


Forbidden Fruit

by AnonMadSci



Series: The Sweetest of Temptations [1]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alien Sex, Anal Sex, Dubious Consent, Enemies to Lovers, Forced Orgasm, Hurt/Comfort, Interspecies Sex, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mental Link, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Not Beta Read, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Prostate Massage, Rough Sex, Self-Indulgent, Telepathic Bond, Telepathy, Voyeurism, Whump, Wraith (Stargate), Xenophilia, not actually abo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:20:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27423370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnonMadSci/pseuds/AnonMadSci
Summary: Bare thighs were parted wide under his weight, stubbornly set against the cold stone even when he could feel the trembling need, the urge to wrap those legs around his waist and pull him deeper, both against him and in the projections from the strong mind. Even now he was mostly seated inside the scorching tight heat, pinning both wrists with one hand above their heads. He shifted, letting his weight rest more heavily on the human beneath him and accidentally slid deeper. John Sheppard made a half-strangled noise, cut off abruptly when he sank his teeth into his own bottom lip hard enough that the wraith's sensory pits could detect the hint of metallic blood before the red was even visible. He brushed against Sheppard’s mind. Part of him was desperate for another mind, even a humans.“Get out of my head!” Sheppard snarled, struggling uselessly against his hold and tightening delightfully around his cock. It’d be pleasant if not for the forceful mental shove that surprised him. A human should not be capable of it, a human should not be reacting to him like this, and yet… He could feel Kolya’s impatience, starting to fuck in earnest before the cattleprod could be brought out.
Relationships: John Sheppard/Todd the Wraith
Series: The Sweetest of Temptations [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2003554
Comments: 60
Kudos: 198





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Lmao so this is an uh, a very self-indulgent fic. I'm not yet sure how long it will end up or if it will be every Friday or every other Friday for an update, but when I decide, I will let you guys know. It'll take place during the whole Common Ground episode.
> 
> Drawing by https://www.deviantart.com/shade-of-stars

Of all the years he’d been imprisoned, he’d never once had a human react to him, to show symptoms of need. But in the hour or two after Sheppard had wished for silence and he’d respected it, he began to see it. The human’s temperature spiked despite the cool underground air, skin flushed, and his sensory pits picking up the faint hints of arousal. It was even stranger to react to the non-wraith scent, to feel the need rising up in him too. The guards had noticed the difference when they’d first come down to face him, bringing the general who had greatly enjoyed what he saw, eyes lighting up with a sadistic glee even though he kept most of it off his face. It mattered little to him in the end.

“Perhaps Dr. Weir will be more willing to give in if it’s not just your life that’s on the line?”

“You’re a sick fuck. I thought you said this wasn’t personal, Kolya.” Sheppard growled out. Kolya ignored him, giving out orders that were carried out quickly after he left. Sheppard struggled, fighting against the guards until he was again shocked into brief unconsciousness. He didn’t fight when the guards came for him next, half needing them just to make the distance, but at least he wasn’t being dragged in like before when starvation made him too weak to bear his own weight. 

Sheppard's scent was stronger in the room where he was bound instead of cuffed directly into the chair. His own need spiking in response.

“Kolya, you can’t be serious!” The woman’s voice was static-y through the Genii radio, but even the poor quality couldn’t disguise the horror and revulsion in it. But the wraith couldn’t care less. Not with his blood singing in his veins and the hunger-need that was barely sated by the brief feeding he’d been allowed to take earlier. 

“I assure you, Dr. Weir, I am very serious.” Kolya looked into the camera that was filming all of this with an aptly serious expression. Though the general's mind betrayed his excitement. He was  _ eager _ to watch this, if for nothing else than for this human, John Sheppard’s suffering. He turned his attention to the man in question, naked and trying desperately not to show his discomfort to the camera sending video of them back to his people. But he could see the stiff tension as he held himself upright, bound only in rope instead of the cuffs attached to the chair like last time. The sensory pits on either side of his nose flared just a bit, picking up the steadily increasing temperature. He could see the perspiration beading on pale skin, the way the human kept noticing every shift he made, hyperaware of him. The call of his flesh was starting to edge out the hunger, his cock already full though his interest was hidden behind his leather trench coat. Unlike Sheppards’. Even though the man was trying to hide it, it was slowly filling despite his efforts. He could smell it, the scent of the humans' arousal growing stronger. 

Two Genii guards came to unlock his feeding hand, exposing it. He hissed at the air against the slit at the center. Hunger surged through him. It’d been so long. Sheppard’s eyes snapped to him, wary, but he was bound and gagged to the chair. There was no hope of freedom for either of them, no matter what this human might think. Not with how they were surrounded by even more heavily armed guards than before. 

He approached, feeding hand extended. He brought it down in a familiar arc but stopped at the last second, hand hovering over the bare skin. No, he couldn’t. Not yet. He wanted this human, needed the man before him in the same way Sheppard needed him. Sheppard let out a forceful exhale, eyes narrowing at him as if he was the one who could read his mind. 

_ Don’t you dare. _ He could hear the thought as easily as if it’d been spoken and it made him pause. Sheppard’s eyes only narrowed further when he did dare. Reaching out to the body before him, one hand grasped a thigh just above the knee and pushed it wide. The man’s breath hitched, the sound only spurring him on and he slotted himself into the space he’d just created.

_Think of anything else, c’mon John. Don’t react._ Sheppard’s thoughts were loud, repeated over and over, jaw clenched shut even as he shuddered under his claws trailing lightly through the sparse curls of chest hair, refusing to let any sound escape. But he couldn’t stop himself from reacting anymore than he himself could.  
  
He stopped his exploration abruptly, changing direction. His claws made quick work of the ropes binding the man to the chair and he caught the instinctive leap to his feet with his feeding hand to the man’s chest. He didn’t latch on, though his hunger pulled at him again. There were separate bindings keeping Sheppard's arms tied behind his back and he left those for now. He circled the man for two paces, kicking the chair away before pushing Sheppard down. The wraith followed Sheppard to the bunker floor and ran his hand down the center of the chest. He was used to feeling the heat under his feeding hand and the racing heart beneath it, but it was different feeling the heat against the outside of his thighs, having a human beneath him like this. Then his hand trailed lower, over the heaving belly, feeling the hard thick muscles under the softness of skin and a healthy layer of fat. He’d already tasted the strength of this human, but it was a different thing to feel it for himself. Following the trail of short dark hair down to the thatch of thicker curls and the not quite soft cock nestled there, Sheppard jolted when he wrapped his hand around it, exploring the differences between them. 

It quickly became fully erect in his hand, flushed pink and similar in shape, though his own was more tapered at the tip where Sheppards was bulbous and shroom-like. He ran the pad of his thumb over the head and Sheppard squirmed beneath him. Need and fear came off the man in psychic waves, a small amount of clear liquid welling up from the slit but not nearly as much as what his own would produce. The shaft of it was smooth, unlike the ridged shaft of his own, just the veins pulsing with Sheppard’s rapid heartbeat. It wasn’t enough. For either of them, he realized when he accidentally met Sheppard's hazel eyes. Without breaking eye contact, he pushed Sheppard’s thighs wide, the outside of pale thighs pressed against the bunker floor, before fitting himself between them. He snagged the gag and cut it free. Immediately Sheppard turned his head and spat the cloth out. 

“Don’t,” Sheppard growled out, thrashing against his bonds when his plea went ignored. Especially when the wraith undid his pants just enough to pull out his own cock. He gave a barely audible hiss at finally being free from the tight confines. Sheppard’s eyes fell toward it and went wide, need and fear warring with each other on his expression. He palmed his own cock under the other’s watch, rubbing the copious amounts of slick precome to coat it.

“Don’t do this,” Sheppard tried again, curiously going limp when the wraith raised the man’s narrow hips to better meet his own.  _ Please! _ Sheppard projected,  _ don’t do this.  _ He hesitated, feeling the conflict within the other. Rather than accept the need, the human was fighting his instincts. Fighting the urge to spread his legs further, to fuck himself on his cock. Sheppard had not learned to embrace them as he had over the ten thousand years of his existence. Sheppard took his hesitation as something more than thought and dared to hope, hazel eyes pleading. 

“Who said you could stop?” Kolya’s voice rang out like the crack of a whip and immediately the closest of the guards prodded him with electricity. His body jerked, a multi-toned cry escaping for the brief moment it crackled through him before the guard pulled away and he was left breathing raggedly. His starved body sluggishly healed the minute damage. He bared his sharp teeth at the General, furious but unable to vent it. Both hands found Sheppard’s hips again, avoiding the man’s face as he lifted them, pulling him back against his cock. He brushed against Sheppard’s mind,  _ this is beyond both of us Sheppard, relax and accept it. _

Regardless of whether or not Sheppard heeded his warning, he pushed against the tight furl, slow and patient until it gave way to him. The man’s breath hitched, tensing against the penetration. He stilled, not wishing to damage the human. And then Sheppard was slowly relaxing around him and he withdrew entirely. Sheppard made a weak noise. A protest, he realized, yellow eyes widening in surprise briefly. He sought to soothe, sweeping a hand up a pale thigh before pushing in again, penetrating easier a second time. He rested his forehead against the cool stone above the human’s shoulder, bent over him as he slid deeper in slow shallow rocking thrusts, opening him up as gently as he could. The copious amount of slick precome he produced greatly eased the way. Sheppard was hot inside, much hotter than any wraith. He didn’t open up easily like another wraith either, so tight around him, a molten vise-like grip around his cock. It was both too much and not enough, and he was desperate for more. 

Sheppard’s mind was in great conflict. The man made muffled noises, high and breathy when he didn’t manage to stop himself from voicing them in time. The tight inner muscles clenched and spasmed each time a ridge pushed into him. His claws worked absently at the rope binding Sheppard’s arms behind his back. He could feel the human straining against them, making them creak and snap apart whenever he cut one of the cords it was made up of and then Sheppard was free. 

And swinging at him. He reared back to avoid the punch and caught both flailing hands by the wrists, securing them against the cold stone.   
  


Bare thighs were parted wide under his weight, stubbornly set against the cold stone even when he could feel the trembling need, the urge to wrap those legs around his waist and pull him deeper, both against him and in the projections from the strong mind. Even now he was mostly seated inside the scorching tight heat, pinning both wrists with one hand above their heads. 

_Fuck, please don’t let them see me like this._ He caught the others’ thought and shifted to hide more of him from the camera’s view, letting his weight rest more heavily on the human beneath him and accidentally sliding deeper. John Sheppard made a half-strangled noise, cut off abruptly when he sank his teeth into his own bottom lip hard enough that the wraiths sensory pits could detect the hint of metallic blood before the red was even visible. He sought more contact with Sheppard’s mind. Part of him was desperate for another, even a human, after all the years isolated when he’d spent thousands of years in constant contact with his brethren. Another part of him wanted that feedback of pleasure he knew the other was feeling.

“Get out of my head!” Sheppard snarled, struggling uselessly against his hold and tightening delightfully around his cock. It’d be pleasant if not for the forceful mental shove that surprised him. A human should not be capable of it. A human should not be reacting to him like this, and yet… He could feel Kolya’s impatience, starting to fuck in earnest before the cattleprod could be brought out.

The first real thrust tore a cry from Sheppard’s throat, head rolling back and eyes closing against it all. His own moans echoed multi-tonal, all the muffled noises from Sheppard, urging him on. The human’s mental defenses fell apart, letting him sneak in and he took full advantage to finally feel another mind against his own. He savored the others' potent fury, the pleasure, and even the slight pain of their coupling. He let the human feel his own pleasure, sharing the sensation of hot and tight so good around his cock, the slick friction of the thrusts and Sheppard’s hips bucked at the phantom feeling, moaning brokenly.

_ Get out of my head!  _ Sheppard couldn’t maintain the concentration to keep him out. 

_ This is out of either of our control, John Sheppard.  _ He answered,  _ just submit to it and enjoy what you can before I consume you.  _ Even now, his hunger pulled at him. He felt the spike of fear in the other’s mind and soothed it, projecting calm. Kolya would not allow him to take it all. Not yet. Releasing Sheppard’s wrists, he reached for his hips instead. Lifting them as he thrust down, forcing gasps and short choked moans from the man beneath. Inner muscles worked around his cock, gripping him tightly as if to make sure he couldn’t leave. A broken little noise, a weak whimper soft enough only his ears picked it up, always escaped when he pulled out anyways. As if he needed any more encouragement to slide deep, sheath himself in entirety in Sheppard’s ass, every inch of him taken so well, held tightly within even after he’d fucked Sheppard open so slowly.

_ What did you do to me? _ Sheppard bit his lip again to keep the noises from escaping, but there was no stopping the other lewd noises, the sounds of their coupling. The wet slap of skin against skin and soft squelch whenever he pushed in. His fluids were slicking the way. He knew exactly when the other noticed it too, fair skin flushing redder and he caught the partial thought:  _ wet as a woman,  _ and how the man liked it far more than he let on if the way he tightened around him was any indication.

_ I didn’t do anything, Sheppard.  _ He could feel the others’ doubt and suspicion. There was nothing he could say now that would be believed, nor did either of them have enough presence of mind for an explanation now. 

He moved upright, getting more leverage to fuck harder, faster. Sheppard tensed, arching up off the floor, biting his own wrist to keep his noises muffled. Kolya laughed. He could feel the shame suffusing the other at the reminder of their audience and acted without thinking, flipping him over and pushing down between his shoulder blades while lifting his hips as he pushed inside again. This time his cock slid in easily, the displaced excess slick running down pale thighs. The body beneath him jerked as the ridges on his cock rubbed directly against his prostate one by one. He didn’t let up, greatly enjoying how Sheppard quivered and shook, torn between pleasure and pain and muffling swears and groans. He surged further against the strong mind, augmenting Sheppard’s pleasure with his own when the pain of oversensitivity threatened to overwhelm him.

_ I can’t! _ Sheppard cried out wordlessly from how he was silencing himself, drawing blood with how hard he bit into his own arm. The other one stretched out to brace himself.

_ You can, _ he answered unyieldingly as he rutted, carving out every fear, every worry, every thought that wasn’t of him and the pleasure he was giving. He could feel how Sheppard forgot about the others around them, watching them, even those on the other side of the video feed.  _ Give in Sheppard.  _ He wrapped his hand around Sheppard’s cock, stroking it even as he shared his own pleasure, letting it rebound and grow between them, letting Sheppard feel how close he was. He didn’t expect the hot stab of arousal from the man when he realized it, the sheer need emanating from him. Sheppard  _ liked _ the idea of him reaching his end inside him, seeding him, useless as it was with their biology. He threw back his head with a moan, oh how he wanted that, needed it. Unlike Sheppard, he didn’t care who saw his pleasure. He wasn’t even thrusting much anymore, just grinding his ridges against that spot inside, voicing his pleasure at how Sheppard clenched and jolted, flinched away, and all but fucked himself back against his cock, blind in his desperation. Eager for him. It was heady, almost as good as the ever-growing scent of sex, the sensation of those tremoring muscles against cock, Sheppard wrapped tightly around him, enough so that he could feel that racing heartbeat within the red ring around his cock, shiny with his precome. He wanted to touch it, to put the pad of a finger against it and tease the abused muscle. Perhaps one of Sheppard's fingers, let the man feel for himself how stretched obscenely wide he was. But he couldn’t. Not here, not without drawing Sheppard's mind back to those around him. 

He pulled Sheppard up by the man’s short black locks, shifting his grip with his feeding hand against his chest, hiding the still hard cock with his other hand between Sheppard’s spread legs. The man squirmed and gasped against him, unable to escape his hold. Their pleasure merged, tipping each other over the edge. Sheppard spasmed around his cock as it pulsed and jerked where he ground it deep inside him. Sheppard spilled himself on the stone floor and his hand, head falling back over his shoulder and he found himself biting down on the crook of his neck, sharp teeth cutting through the skin easily. Sheppard’s cock twitched hard, another weak spurt leaving it. He kept moving, extending both their orgasms until the oversensitivity was too much for either of them.

His feeding hand slotted over the original mark on Sheppard’s chest and the organ latched on. His cry echoed in the chamber as he absorbed the potent life energy, so strong, so defiant. Sheppard's pain in the background went ignored. Or rather, compared to the burning hunger driving him, it was barely noticeable.

Electricity broke his feeding after just a few seconds. Not nearly long enough to satiate him. They pulled him off Sheppard, shocking him into submission until they got his feeding hand encased in metal again, half dragging him away. He glanced back at Sheppard. The man wide-eyed and shaking uncontrollably, face aged with more wrinkles. The guards grabbed him roughly, disgust on their faces and arousal in their scent.

“Three hours,” Kolya told the camera before he motioned to the guard behind to cut the transmission. 

He was dragged away to the cells, guards giving him a harsh shove before dropping Sheppard behind him, the human landing on his hands and knees in the same cell rather than the cell next to him as before. He watched as Sheppard hefted himself into a half seated half laying down position against the stone wall, one leg tucked, and regarded him suspiciously. The feeding mark was bleeding slowly as were the bites both inflicted by him and the man himself. Come and slick naked pale thighs shiny even in the low light.  _ His _ come and slick. Need rose up like a knife and he shoved it down just as suddenly as it’d appeared. Sheppard would most certainly not be receptive now.

_Sheppard_ , he tried, only to be forcefully shoved out of the others’ mind. The sudden silence of his own mind stung. “Where are your friends?” He tried again, watching how the human shuddered at his voice.  
  
“They’ll be here.”

“You still believe that?” He pressed, doubtful, and perhaps reminiscent if he were honest with himself. He’d once believed similarly. Years and years ago. His body was absorbing the little strength stolen from the human, fueling starving cells, healing the damage done by the electricity. He still fell into old habits. Preserving what he’d gotten by holding himself still, moving no more than necessary.

“Yeah, I do. They just need more time,” Sheppard insisted without hesitation. 

“No one has ever left this place alive.”   
  
“Yeah well, I’m going to.” Sheppard challenged shortly. Those fearless eyes narrowing on him.

“Kolya will kill you before your friends have a chance to reach these cells.” He pointed out tiredly, losing patience with Sheppards refusal to see reason. He had half expected the anger from last time when Sheppard had simply wished for his silence. Not the firm belief he was faced with now. He glanced away, half resting against the wall at the back of the cell. 

“How well do you know the layout of this place?” There was something in the human’s voice that made him look back. Hope. Sheppard was _hopeful._  
  
“Well enough to know what they would be up against.” He frowned, wondering why it was such an interest. He didn’t have to wait long for his curiosity to be satisfied.

“What about us?” Sheppard panted as he pulled himself up, hand gripping the bars that had been between them last time with white knuckles from the force of it, standing to face him. “Do you know enough about this place to get  _ us _ out?”

“You and me?” He couldn’t help the surprise, tilting his head as he considered it.

“What? They're gonna let you go after I’m dead?” Sheppard asked sarcastically, deadpanning at him. He blinked.

“No.” 

  
“Then what’ve you got to lose?” Sheppard turned the tables, pressing him this time. 

“My life.” He answered, eyes narrowing at the human. 

“Oh yeah, you’ve got a  _ great _ one down here.” Sheppard sneered. He growled at that, anger rising. “Hey! It makes sense. We have a common goal.” Sheppard was quick to soothe, perhaps reminded they were in the same cell. Or just perhaps he sincerely hadn’t meant to push so far. Even in the same cell, the man regarded him with a fearless disregard that he was greatly unused to seeing from the ones he’d fed upon. Not even the Genii guards dared to assume such an attitude. He sighed. 

“As I’ve said before. There is no escape.” 

“You!” Sheppard jabbed a finger at him, but lost his words with his balance and almost fell, catching himself at the last moment and deflating. Accepting his decision, perhaps, when his next words were, “What the hell did you do to me.”

“I fucked you and fed from you.” He cocked his head, vaguely amused.

“Not that!” Sheppard snarled weakly. “I’ve been around other Wraith, this has never happened with any of them!” 

“Ahhh, so you’ve never felt the need before.” He confirmed to himself. “Those born after the war with the Alterans have never had the chance to feed off them. The newer generations have less and less Alteran DNA within them and as such, they are not affected by the need that comes occasionally.” 

“Why do the Ancients matter?” Sheppard asked, baffled. He blinked.

“You didn’t know?” He couldn’t help but ask. Sheppard scowled at him.

“It’s not like there’s any of ‘em around to ask.” The human remarked dryly and he huffed a laugh, finally letting himself reach for Sheppard when the humans' temperature started rising despite the cool cell surroundings. 

“No.”

“Relax Sheppard, I can’t feed from you even if I wanted to.” He raised the hand gloved in metal before reaching for the human again. It spoke to Sheppard’s weakness that he didn’t fight when he was pulled close and then down as he sat, drawing the human onto his lap. He bent over to lick the blood dripping down from the oval wound, tasting a bit of his own enzyme with the faint iron. Sheppard’s breath hitched. “The Alterans had a different method of reproduction than you humans. They had a more-.... guaranteed manner of conception. Wraith with enough Alteran DNA will have this experience. Enough within to feel the urge, the need, though not enough to have the same biology. However, why you reacted to me and vice versa, I don’t know.” He admitted, somewhat reluctantly, leaning back against the cell wall. 

“I have Ancient DNA,” Sheppard groaned and suddenly everything made sense. 

“I may have activated it when I fed from you the first time. I expect the need will only get worse since I fed from you again.” He theorized. Sheppard groaned again, hiding his face in the front of his coat. He took the opportunity to reach down, a careful finger against the abused ring of muscle. Sheppard jolted, pulling away. “Not painful?” He asked. 

“What do you care?” Sheppard narrowed his eyes at him, refusing to answer. “You’re just gonna eat me anyways.”

“Habit perhaps. And while I admit, I do look forward to the next time I feed, I do not have anything against you, Sheppard.” He offered a careful shred of honesty.  
  
“No, it's not painful.”

“Good. You should rest while you can. The need will undoubtedly be back before our captors.” He murmured softly, drawing the finger away and checking for any pink in the slick. There was none and he was satisfied. For all that his hunger still burned, he found his reluctance to finish him off growing with intensity.

There was always a fondness and urge to care for partners during the need that he wouldn’t have felt otherwise, but this was beyond that. For many many long years, he’d languished and starved in this cell, long enough to be too tired and too far gone to even hope anymore. And yet, that was no longer true. Even now, he could feel that Sheppard’s confidence in his fellow humans was strong, he still believed they could get out and he was willing to work with him even after the two brief feedings.

Sheppard slowly relaxed against him, exhausted from the events, and soon he could feel the humans' mind mellow out into a fitful rest. 

Could they? No, surely escape was still as impossible as it’d been before Sheppard even arrived. But this human was different. Perhaps….


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More self-indulgence in a fic lol

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I'm late guys! I've decided to do the Friday fortnight for the update schedule and boy am I glad for it @_@ it's been a heck of a week at work orz and I have not had much time to work on ch. 3
> 
> The stupid image thingy isn't working :( 
> 
> https://i.pinimg.com/originals/80/51/07/8051070b0965969ae43608c89cf812cd.gif

As he predicted, it was not too long after that Sheppard’s need kicked in. Perhaps an hour before the next time the guards would get them. The human shifted restlessly on his lap, temperature rising even as he shivered. He could feel himself reacting, hardening cock pressing up against hot asscheeks. His unhindered hand on a narrow hip to keep Sheppard from escaping when the man flinched away. He toppled them over and made some use of his confined feeding hand, hooking Sheppard’s knee with the elbow belonging to it and opening him wide to his eyes. Even the low light of the bunker reflected on the shiny trails of come and slick, Sheppard painted in _his_ come and slick, only escalating his need. He was moving before he knew it, rubbing it into Sheppard's skin. The skin of pale thighs was surprisingly soft against his fingertips. 

Sheppard flushed deeply, automatically grabbing onto him. “Don’t.” But even as Sheppard said that his hips canted up, trying to push against his cock. The pad of his thumb pressed against the previously abused furl. Sheppard jerked, moaning out. He didn’t hold back any longer. 

“Stop this.” Sheppard gasped, weakly clasping his biceps as he was penetrated. Shivering under him with every ridge that pressed briefly against the rim before sliding into the scorching heat easily. Each ridge pushed more slick and come free, dribbling to the bunker floor, the scent of sex only growing stronger. 

_Why do you still resist?_ He didn’t hesitate to take advantage of the others’ mental distraction to enter his mind as well as his body. _You feel the need as strongly as I._ He could see how affected the human was. Sheppard’s cock was hard against his stomach, drooling and flushed, and besides that, he could feel the sheer need emanating from him. Then there was a flicker of a thought, guilt and shame with it and he pursued it deeper into Sheppard’s mind, pulling it out from him.

_What if they’re watching?_

_Then tell me here. Resist for show if you want, and beg for me where only I can hear it. Or if you truly don’t want it, I will believe it here._ He stilled fully seated inside as he looked down onto Sheppard. He waited with all the patience of one over ten thousand years old as Sheppard squirmed, making half abortive movements to fuck himself until he stilled pale hips too, projecting his amusement at the frustrated huff it earned him. He watched as Sheppards face contorted into a grimace, need and pride warring with each other. The mind against his was racing. His own body was quivering from the effort not to move, not to give in as he’d always done. Sheppard relaxed under him. A decision apparently made as the man’s expression cleared.

“Let me go.” _Hold me down._

“No.” He grinned down as he gathered both wrists and pinned them above Sheppard's head again. The human struggled for show and he allowed it, enjoying feeling the muscles working around his cock. And from the choked moans under him, Sheppard was enjoying it too.

“Stop!” _Don’t stop._

He didn’t bother responding verbally or mentally, instead, he withdrew almost entirely before snapping his hips forward, enjoying the wet squelch as he filled Sheppard. The man beneath him jerked at each thrust, breathing heavily and squeezing his eyes shut. He hadn’t the hands to spare to grasp the leaking cock laying in a puddle of its own precome, but Sheppard arched up into his thrusts, rubbing the cock against the smooth leather of his coat. He bent more, letting Sheppard take more of his weight, giving him something more to rut against. Neither of them would last long. Not with the need escalating for them both, shared pleasure circling higher and higher. The human’s head fell back with a low groan and he couldn’t resist such a temptation, mouthing at the exposed neck. Sheppard gasped and shuddered beneath him. Especially when he latched his lips onto the thin vulnerable skin there, feeling the rapid pulse beneath them as he sucked harshly. 

Sheppard seized under him, crying out loudly as his cock twitched and spurted, insides clenching and spasming around him and he let out a low echoing moan against the pale skin. Snapping his hips forward, he didn’t stop even when the human’s cock stopped dribbling come onto his belly and the man struggled against him briefly. A low wrecked sound of pleasure pulled from Sheppard’s throat. Just a dozen strokes, relishing the hot tight squeeze around him, before he too came to his end. Grinding his cock as deep as he could get it as it pulsed and twitched, pleasure washing over him in violent waves that threatened to drown him.

For a long time after, they stayed like that. Until their breaths evened out and cocks softened, his own slipping free with a rush of fluids. Sheppard shuddered beneath him, making a weak noise before he stilled. The scent of sex even stronger than before and beneath it, something wholly Sheppard. _You’re heavy._ Sheppard complained without speaking, without any real heat. He hummed softly, acknowledging but still not moving. It was surprisingly nice pressing Sheppard against the floor like this, feeling the human's warmth seeping in through his clothes. He could vaguely feel the guards shifting around them, but none drew nearer. Not yet.

 _They will come soon._ He noted, warning Sheppard. He kept the man pressed down when he panicked, _we still have some time. Just not much._ Sheppard let out a forceful exhale, head falling back down, face turned away. The shame was back, doubled even, and a moment later, Sheppard was pushing him off. He obliged, tucking his cock back into his pants before resting against the cell wall as he’d done before. Yellow slitted eyes watched Sheppard pull himself upright, wincing as he sat. 

“Painful?” He asked before he could stop himself. Sheppard’s eyes met his own, staring for a moment. And then the human's addams apple bobbed as he swallowed before shaking his head, drawing his gaze to the freshly bruised patch of skin just to the right of it. _No, just-... sensitive._ Sheppard admitted, looking away. A silence fell, Sheppard shifting and trying to find a comfortable position, shivering now with the cooling sweat and fluids against the bunker air lowering his temperature.

He suppressed the urge to pull Sheppard against him, aware it would not be welcome. Instead, he found himself staring, trying to figure out this puzzle of a man. Sheppard was aware of him, fidgeting. There was a hesitance, a reluctance in the mind against his own as if Sheppard were holding back. He cocked his head curiously. _What is it?_

 _I don’t even know your name._ He blinked at Sheppard's response, the irritation in it and the scowl on his face, before tentatively pressing against the man's mind. There was the seemingly instinctive resistance before he was hesitantly allowed, and he shared the thoughts/feelings/sensations that made up his designation in Wraith hive mind. _What was that?_ Sheppard frowned, confused.

 _What you would call my name._ He answered, amused when the human snorted. 

_What kinda name is that?! I can’t say that._ Sheppard sent back and his lips quirked at the indignation.

 _Then call me whatever you like, it does not matter to me._ It didn’t. Not considering Sheppard would likely die down here and then he’d just be stuck alone until the next time the Genii needed him. Sheppard frowned, mind active even if he was not within it enough to follow the thoughts.

 _How about Todd?_ The human suggested hesitantly. He let the man feel his indifference as he answered.

“If that is what you wish,” Todd answered aloud.

“We can still make it out of here.” The human reminded, voice soft. Even now, he still dared to believe. But the sound of footsteps coming their way prevented any more talk of it and soon the Genii guards were in sight. Todd sighed, standing and waiting, John Sheppard mirroring him and wincing at the fluids that ran down his thighs. The guards noticed the fresh signs of sex, sneering at him. The cell doors opened and Sheppard walked out in slow measured steps.

“Move.” The guards retrieved them both at the same time this time. Sheppard refused the command, looking over his shoulder to send what he guessed was supposed to be a meaningful look. A call to arms, to convince him to escape perhaps. But before the human could even attempt anything, the guard punched him into submission, dragging him along before he could recover and walk for himself. The guards for him didn’t need to aid him back to the room with the camera this time, he’d regained enough of his strength for that.

There was no escape from this place. Why wouldn’t Sheppard accept that? 

“My offer still stands, Dr. Weir,” Kolya spoke to the camera. There were other words exchanged between them, but he didn’t pay attention, eyes on Sheppard where he was back in the chair, gagged and bound again for their invisible audience. _Perhaps we should keep you bound this time?_ He asked, knowing Sheppard's preference for looking as if he had less say in the matter. 

Sheppard glanced at him briefly. Again there was conflict within. _I like your noises too much for the gag to stay._ He added when Sheppard didn’t respond promptly enough. The man flushed, gritting his teeth, jaw muscles twitching from the force of it.

Kolya turned to him, obviously finished speaking with the woman who commanded Sheppard's people. “Take your fill.” He kept himself from reacting visibly, recognizing the command with pavlovian ingrained excitement. The kill order, the permission to finally, _finally,_ take it _all._ He could satisfy _some_ of the burning hunger. The guards stepped forward, once again freeing his feeding hand. 

His eyes fell on Sheppard, seeing the apprehension in them and realizing he’d still been connected to the human’s mind. He vaguely wondered how much of it transferred, their minds weren’t nearly as connected as his to the other Wraith had been. And yet some part of him was reluctant, he realized. He didn’t want to take it all.

Nonetheless, there was a pull. He couldn’t stop himself from approaching, from reaching out.

“He stays on the chair.” Kolya interrupted, possibly to keep them more easily within the crude camera’s view. Yellow slitted eyes slid towards the general before letting only Sheppard in on his amusement. It was perhaps the only reason the human didn’t try to fight as he was picked up. He sat on the chair, Sheppard in his lap. The human facing him instead of the camera, still technically on the chair. With the way his hands were bound behind him again, there was not much that would be visible to Sheppard’s people. 

_Gonna be pretty hard to mistake what’s happening._ Sheppard reminded, snorting to himself. The man shifted to better get his balance, settling. Todd’s claws made quick work of the gag before he carefully extracted his cock. His hands moved to grab a handful of asscheek, sensory pits flaring to catch the human’s scent and he found himself responding to it, pressing up against Sheppard as he inhaled deeply. 

He could imagine it, what Sheppard would look like from behind, taking his cock, rising and falling on it, deriving his pleasure from it, the noises it would force from the human. Surging further into Sheppard’s mind, he shared the images, his _excitement_ for it. Arousal that wasn’t quite the need surged through them both and he was pulling the man down onto him, easily sliding deep with a multi-tonal groan.

Sheppard was so hot, so slick around him. He could feel the remnants of his own come from the previous couplings run down his cock as he withdrew. Lifting the human up and then dropping him down, enjoying the punched out moan it forced from Sheppard, the way the man’s insides clenched down around him in shock and thighs tightened around his waist. Todd didn’t want to stop, only the burning jolt of electricity could have taken him away from this and the guards were too far to reach him. Sheppard was bent over him, pressing his face into the leather at his shoulder to silence himself, but his mind was alive with his pleasure, swearing at the press of his ridges against the sensitized rim.

Todd mouthed at the shoulder unintentionally offered to him, reluctant to bite down. Wraith healed quite a bit faster than humans, that they had much sharper teeth mattered little in the end. But the mark he’d bitten earlier was still barely scabbed. 

_Have you changed your mind then?_ Sheppard asked, shuddering in his hold. 

_What do you mean?_ Todd didn’t stop, but it was a close thing. Instead, he leaned back in the seat, hooking the human’s knees with his elbows as his legs spread out over the sides of the chair. Sheppard's insides clenched down hard as the man fought to keep his balance and he hissed at the sudden tight grip on his cock.

_You - Fuck! You keep saying I’m going to die here. If that’s so, why not just mmmm! Mark me up? Why hesitate?_

He did stop at that, blinking up at Sheppard. Before Kolya could get too impatient, he disguised the pause as readjusting their positions, reaching behind to grab onto the ropes keeping Sheppard's hands bound, forcing Sheppard to lean back. There was a choked noise as the new position had his ridged cock rubbing up against the human’s prostate with each thrust. _Cheater._ Sheppard spoke mentally and gasped aloud and he couldn't help the startled laughter he muffled into unintelligible noises of pleasure against the human’s chest.

Todd didn’t answer, focusing on removing the capability of thought entirely as he snapped his hips into the tight heat, pulling Sheppard back onto his cock at the same time. High weak little noises left the man, his head all but falling back as he gave into it. That was a heady feeling, the willing submission, the easy acceptance of everything he had to give. He moaned against sweaty salty skin.

Sheppard was right, however, why not mark him?

He was drawn to the curiosity of the man’s chest, in particular to the nipples at the muscular swell of his pecs. Licking over one of them, Sheppard startled, tightening delightfully around him and he groaned, hips snapping forward. Spurred on by the response he was getting, Todd bit down around a nipple, licking up the blood that welled up. Sheppard gasped, arching up against him. 

_If you keep this up, I won’t last much longer._ Sheppard warned, panting raggedly. Arousal surged through him. He fucked faster, barely leaving the hot insides before he was bucking up into, seating himself deep. Choked, strangled moans left as Sheppard still fought to contain the sounds he was forced from him. He bit down again, just outside of his last bite, his tongue soothing the little wounds and lavving over the stiffening nipple.

 _I want that. I want to feel you come around me, John Sheppard._ Todd answered, freeing a hand and taking a moment to run it through the fluids dripping from Sheppard before wrapping it around the human’s cock. He shared his own pleasure, reinforcing the phantom sensation of hot muscular insides wrapped tight around Sheppard’s cock with his own slick palm. 

Sheppard came like that, body arched against him, insides spasming around his cock. The orgasm seemed to have stolen his voice, hazel eyes closed tightly against the searing pleasure, expression frozen in ecstasy. Only a weak trickle coming from the cock in his hand. Yellow slitted eyes drank up the sight Sheppard made, still moving, still taking his own pleasure until he was following a few moments later. Holding Sheppard down on his cock, his hips twitched to instinctively grind deeper as he seeded the man, drawing a weak little moan that only he could hear with his own multi-tonal cries overshadowing it. He was bent over the man, shuddering as his own eyes fell shut. 

Todd could tell exactly when Sheppard's senses returned to him because the man tensed, his body a live wire of apprehension. He slowly lifted Sheppard off his cock, off his lap as he set the man down on the chair. Hazel eyes glared up at him, knowing what was coming before his feeding hand even started the downward arch.

Potent lifeforce flooded him as he fed. He could take it all. He _needed_ it. Even what he’d already taken in the previous feedings had done nothing to sate the burning hunger. Sheppard didn’t look away, holding his gaze even as his feeding took a visible toll.

He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t take it all.

“Who told you to stop?” Kolya turned towards him as he pulled his hand away. He was too busy still watching the tremoring man who was staring back with shocked wide eyes to look back at the General. He could feel the others' consciousness receding, could see the new wrinkles, the new silvering of his hair but he didn’t let himself worry. Sheppard was strong. He would survive this.  
  
“He is near death, shall I finish him?” Todd risked a look to Kolya, daring to hope he’d read the man correctly, that he would take the offered opportunity.

“Get it out of here.” Kolya nodded at the guards to restrain his feeding hand, guns aimed at his back as they encased it back in the metal. The man looked back through to the audience they were sending the video to. “Now it’s two hours.” The general nodded again at the others to cut the feed. They took him away as Sheppard passed out, leaving him alone with his own mind once again.

* * * * *

“You know I swore I was gonna wake up dead today,” Sheppard spoke before he’d even opened his eyes, not moving.

“You are strong,” Todd answered, yellow slitted eyes turning to him. “Stronger than any human I have ever fed upon.”

“You stopped yourself.” It was a statement of fact. Sheppard eyed him, wary disbelief clear in his voice.

“Yes.” He confirmed, stepping closer and bending over the human. Sheppard met his gaze fearlessly and this time he knew it wasn’t only because his feeding hand was bound. The thrill it sent through him had nothing to do with the need.

“Why?” Sheppard wasn’t really asking, he could feel that much in the mind against his own. He just wanted confirmation, not daring to hope that Todd meant what he thought he meant. And he was more than willing to give it.

“Because the more I feed, the weaker you become and we will need what strength you have left to escape.” He answered honestly.  
  
“Now he wants to escape.” Sheppard groaned, not even bothering to pull himself up. Todd huffed his amusement again, lips quirking up at the corners despite himself as carefully sat beside the human.

“Rest John Sheppard.” _I will wake you when the guards' approach._ He could feel Sheppard’s hesitation before the man leaned against him. The body against his slowly, incrementally relaxing, Sheppard’s consciousness receding again. Todd kept a careful awareness of the guards.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up next, the great escape! 
> 
> It's been a pretty neat challenge so far, the escape part, 'cause it's one of the few parts where it's entirely John and Todd's interactions that are shown explicitly where you don't really see them much in the later episodes. So I don't want this to just rehash canon, I want more, and balancing that has been tougher than expected haha.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhhh so concentration is just not with me atm so Imma get to everybody's comments tomorrow! You'll also notice that the fic has a chapter count! Now obviously that's an estimation that could change. Particularly with all the lovely comments you all have been leaving! 
> 
> But for now, here's the escape! Part 1 at least.

_ Sheppard _ . Todd called, patient and repeating until he felt the humans’ consciousness slowly return. The man groaned, stretching his limbs. He could feel when the lingering aches flared up and Sheppard abandoned the motion.  _ They will come soon.  _ Anticipation ran through the other. Not quite nerves, but rather falling into a battle-ready mentality with practiced ease. Sheppard pushed him away and Todd stood and retreated to the opposite side. He leaned against the wall and watched as the human lay down on the cell floor, sprawled and looking as if he’d stayed passed out where the guards had left him. 

_ Clever. _ Force them to pick him up as dead weight and take them off guard, this human was delightfully vicious. 

_ Todd _ . Sheppard called for him, curiosity below the surface of his mind. He answered with his own curiosity, responding with a low questioning hum vocally. 

_ It was about this time last time that the-... _ Sheppard dropped off, unwilling to say it but he didn’t have to finish.

_ The need, yes. It may be that the feedings have put too much of a strain on your body for it to sustain your need.  _ Todd guessed. There are many that would have perished just from what he’d taken so far. 

_ And yours? _ Sheppard questioned after a moment. Slitted eyes watched Sheppard’s chest rise and fall deceptively calmly as he considered.

_ Usually, my need is dependent on the other, yours in this case. If yours is not there, mine should fade as well. _ He offered, trying not to get offended at the relief that flooded the man. That must have gone through since there was a gentle amusement against his mind. 

_ I’d rather not have you trying to fuck me while we’re trying to escape.  _

Todd couldn’t help a snort at that ridiculous idea. Though… admittedly, taking Sheppard against something other than the floor still had an appeal even when his body wasn’t actively responding to the need within them both. A wall perhaps, it’d be easy enough to hold him up, especially once he had use of both of his hands to spread Sheppard wide.  _ Todd!  _ Sheppard snapped, face flushed, his soft cock twitching as his exhausted body struggled against arousal. But he remained soft, body temperature still the same. 

_ If you are truly unwilling, I will respect that. _ Todd reminded him but remained unashamed of his thoughts. Sheppard was still wary, doubt lingering and he couldn’t blame the man. Not when neither of them had had much choice for the majority of their encounters.  _ There is also the possibility that the strain has merely delayed the onset of the need. _

But they weren't allowed to dwell on the thought long. Footsteps echoed down as the guards shuffled into view. It was time.

The cell door was opened. Two stepped in and picked Sheppard up between them and dragged him out. The remaining two came in for him, guiding him. They were used to him still needing assistance even after taking this much from a human. Sheppard waited until he was outside the cell door and Sheppard in front of the next one over before giving the signal.  _ Now! _

He didn’t hesitate. While Sheppard used his weight to slam his guards back against the metal bars of the cell, dazing them, he flipped the one on his feeding arm even as he pinned the other against the wall. Encircling the human’s neck with his chains and slamming the metal casing against the bunker arch, again and again, Todd ignored the painful reverberation that went to his  _ bones _ until finally,  _ finally,  _ it broke. He flung it to the ground and latched on in a single smooth motion.

It was ecstasy. To finally feed like his hunger demanded, to consume for more than just a few measly seconds at a time, his multi-tonal cries echoed in the bunker as the near-permanent pain in his body from constant starvation was finally fading. He wasn’t allowed to enjoy it. The guard he’d flipped and stunned regained his senses and fired several rounds into his back. Pain and pleasure conflicted in his senses and he couldn’t stop feeding, not if he wanted his wounds to heal. 

A knife thrown from across the room sank into the guard’s chest, the man falling back with a raspy groan and he was allowed to finish his meal in peace. Half smushed bullets plinked against the ground as his healing pushed them out. He could feel the wounds at his back starting to close up. Not entirely healed and not nearly healing as quickly as they should have, but it would be enough eventually. 

Todd was breathing raggedly. His lungs were damaged. His breathing sounded like a continuous wheezing snarl as he dropped the corpse and approached Sheppard cautiously. The human already had the guard's gun and was watching him back in much the same manner.  _ What now, John Sheppard?  _ Todd asked as he stood to his full height. Sheppard tossed him the keys and he caught it with one hand. A surprised but pleased expression daring to appear as he bent to unlock the chains on his limbs. He’d honestly expected Sheppard to take advantage of his weakness, his wounds, and finish him off. And yet this human still surprised him. He first freed his arms and then bent lower to free his legs. Sheppard scavenged a radio and another weapon and then as Todd stood, passed him one of the guard's weapons. He took it and looked at Sheppard expectantly.

_ Now I want my damn clothes. _

Todd snickered.  _ That you’ll have to wake up one of yours for that. They didn’t exactly give me a map of the complex when they brought me here. _

“Ugh.” Sheppard made a face, scrubbing his hand down it before squatting down, pulling the somewhat conscious one up, and giving him a rough shake. “Hey, up and at ‘em. Where did you assholes put my stuff?” The guard gave Sheppard a disdainful look, hate projected loud and clear. The moment Todd shifted, however, fear crossed the guard's face and soured his scent. 

“Either you tell me and I’ll kill you.” Sheppard capitalized, pouncing on the fear mercilessly. “Or you don’t and he kills you.” 

_ Promises, promises.  _ Todd teased. He could feel the discomfort in Sheppard at even considering giving the guard over for him to feed on, it was likely not going to happen. However-.... There was more than one guard. He turned his attention to the other. Merely unconscious. Glancing back at the one in Sheppard’s hold, pale with fear he could scent, he made sure the human was watching before he fed from his companion, showing exactly what was in store should he not answer Sheppard.

He didn’t pay them much attention while he fed quietly, feeling lifeforce not nearly as potent as Sheppard's flood into him, closing his wounds completely and giving him strength. When he pulled away, Sheppard was already standing. The guard he was interrogating knocked out, slumped down against the wall.  _ Don’t even think about it. _ Sheppard’s expression was hard, keeping between them as Todd stood.

_ I wasn’t going to, Sheppard. _ He narrowed his eyes in the face of the doubt against his mind.  _ Did you get the answers you were looking for? _ He cocked his head curiously.

_ Yeah, this way. _ Sheppard took the lead through the corridors. 

Sheppard moved carefully, clearly with prior training and experience. And also clearly uncomfortably. There were layers of his fluids, some crusting, and some still shiny, on the man’s thighs. And he could feel Sheppard’s awareness of it. There was nothing he could do to soothe, however, so he said nothing, did nothing save make sure that his gaze was on Sheppard’s face as he followed.

They met with little resistance. Something Sheppard expected from the man’s lack of disquiet.

_ Kolya defected. He only has a handful of soldiers following him. _ Sheppard shared when the man felt his unease. Even with that information, he didn’t allow himself to relax, casting his mind out to give them some forewarning. Something that came in handy in the next hallway when he sensed the approach of guards and managed to push Sheppard into the nook of a deep set doorway, ignoring the mental  _ Hey! _ and questions Sheppard threw at him in protest. Maneuvering them into the shadows, he pressed himself against Sheppard, hiding the man’s pale naked body with the dark leather of his own, hoping they would blend with the shadows enough to escape notice. He bent his own head low to hide the tangled silver of his hair, head slightly turned to watch them pass. At the sound of boots against stone, the questions stopped and Sheppard’s weapon was held at the ready at his side. Prepared for discovery even as Todd could hear the man’s breathing slow enough to be silent. 

The guards passed without noticing them.

Sheppard exhaled his relief and he stepped back to let the man resume leading them.  _ Warn me next time, geez.  _ Sheppard complained.  _ I almost shot you! _

_ Very well.  _ Todd kept his awareness up, this time also focusing on letting Sheppard into his mind to keep him in the loop.  _ I will not be able to keep this up for long. _ He warned.

_ We’re almost there.  _ Sheppard answered. He could feel a reluctantly impressed appreciation among the thought of  _ almost like-... _ and a flash of an image, rectangular device of some sort, there and gone before he could decipher it. 

_ Sheppard! _ He warned, feeling the approach of another set of guards. There were no shadows to duck into here, no rooms to take refuge in. Sheppard hurried to the end of the hall towards the guards, using the awareness to wait until the guards were about to turn the corner to ambush them. He shot the furthest and immediately grabbed the weapon of the other guard, keeping it away from himself as they struggled. The guard was experienced enough to take advantage of Sheppard's weakness. It wasn’t obvious, but he could see Sheppard straining, could feel the frustration as he couldn’t handle the guard as well as he would have prior to being fed from. It was too dangerous to approach, with how the gun was being slowly turned back towards Sheppard, way too close to where he was lingering. He had to do something. Todd brushed that guard's mind, creating the phantom motion to see from the corner of his eyes. The guard fell for it, turning to face the ‘third’ offender only for there to be nothing. Sheppard swung at him before the guard could recover, knocking the man out.

_ Thanks. _ Sheppard nodded back at him before returning to the task at hand. 

It was not too much deeper into the facility that they finally reached the storeroom that held Sheppard’s clothing. But not the weapons the man came with if the muttered grumblings as the man searched through the things were any indication. Todd closed the door behind them, mind alert for signs of approaching guards but not nearly to the earlier extent. It just took the energy he did not have. 

He turned slitted eyes to Sheppard just in time to see the man take one of the other articles of clothing and rip a piece from it to use it to wipe the fluids in various stages of drying from his thighs. A spare Genii uniform from the looks of it. Sheppard grimaced as he ripped off a new piece, reaching back to clean himself with a shudder. Unsteady knees looked less than stable as the cloth wiped between his ass cheeks and Todd reached out to steady him. He didn’t do more than raise a hand before Sheppard’s gun came up and he had to change direction, gripping the barrel to keep the gun faced off to the side rather than at him. Todd let the wordless concern explain his intent as he stayed still, head somewhat bowed in deference to placate. Hazel eyes flicked over him, accepting the unspoken apology as the gun lowered and he let it go. With a moment's hesitation, Todd decided to step forward into Sheppard's space, stopping just behind the man. 

The hitch in Sheppard’s breath as he reached down, pulling one knee up to spread him, did not go unnoticed. His other hand braced against the table, holding them both up and steady. The human shuddered against him. He returned to cleaning himself when it was clear that Todd was not going to try something, slowly relaxing against him.  _ You should get inside too. _ He sent as the hand holding up Sheppard’s leg pulled muscular ass cheeks apart. A new line of slick and come escaped the abused hole and running down previously cleaned thighs. He didn’t hide his enjoyment of how Sheppard shuddered again before the man hesitated. He could feel the human's reluctance, though he couldn’t tell why. Whether it was his presence here or just the reminder of the circumstances, he wasn’t sure the cause.  _ They will notice our absence soon if they have not already. _

“I know!” Sheppard snapped, tense in his hold. If the man didn’t want to use his own fingers, well, he could think of a more enjoyable way. “We definitely don’t have time for that.” Sheppard snorted and he huffed a soft laugh. 

“No, but you could always bring a rag just in case.” Todd offered, mainly attempting to distract the man as he slipped fingers inside himself, expression twisting in discomfort. Yellow eyes peered down over Sheppard’s shoulder, watching the movement of the hand. Sheppards cock twitched under his attention, but there was shame in the mind against his. The human was embarrassed by the wet noises and the shocks of pleasure that made him twitch and jerk when he accidentally brushed against his own prostate. Todd shared his arousal, pressing his clothed cock against Sheppard’s bare ass, enjoying the weak noise it tore from Sheppard, the man’s head falling back against his shoulder. So delightfully tempting, he wanted this human even without the need burning in his veins. 

All too soon, or perhaps not soon enough, Sheppard’s fingers slipped free. He cleaned them off on the rag before bringing it between his legs and wiping away the fresh new streaks. Sheppard tossed the rag away, deeming himself clean enough as he pushed Todd away and grabbed his own clothes to put them on. Todd let him go and backed away, resting against the doorway again. Yellow slitted eyes never left Sheppard as the man dressed efficiently. Stepping into and pulling up black skin-tight fabric over the ass he’d been buried balls deep in, tucking away the half-hard cock before the black pants followed. A black shirt covered the various bite marks he’d left, but not the slowly darkening bruise on the side of his neck. And then his jacket, obviously completing the uniform ensemble, though Sheppard left that undone. For a second, Sheppard searched through the room for something more, swearing when he came up with nothing before turning to him. 

Something in his gaze made the human flush. “You know the way out from here?” Sheppard asked, staring determinedly at him. He nodded, turning and cracking the door open to check the corridor. Empty. 

“This way.” He led Sheppard up into the main area of the underground bunker until they were faced with a group of guards. Three in total. One patrolling the corridor ahead, the other two at the junction. They were side by side against a wall at the blind spot. 

_ Is there another way? _ Sheppard asked, daring to take a peek.

_ None that I know.  _ Todd took advantage of the brief respite of hiding just out of sight to better examine the unfamiliar weapon. These humans had gotten more advanced than Wraith usually allowed. Sheppard was not one of these people, and yet, he picked up the weaponry with ease. Another advanced group that managed to escape their cullings, enough to also get to the projectile-based weaponry stage. Human evolution was similar each time the remnants were left to repopulate, they were fascinating that way. It made him wonder about what was happening among Wraith to allow it.

_ Fuck! Don’t point that at me! _ Sheppard snapped, breaking his train of thought as the man grabbed the barrel of the gun. Lowering it before he’d even finished the reprimand, Sheppard shook his head as he let out a silent exhale.  _ Look, we’ll use the radios to distract them and try and take them out quickly and quietly. Then take that last one by surprise. _ He pushed a button on the side and the guards at the junction reached for theirs at the static, awaiting orders. Instead, they got Sheppard grabbing one from behind by the throat and sinking his knife between the guard's ribs at the same time he grabbed the other guard’s head, twisting to break his neck.

The junction guard returned too quickly, firing four rapid shots into his side in quick succession. The projectiles lodged deep, wounds pouring blood before he even had time to cry out from it and he dropped the corpse in his arms as the guard fired at Sheppard. The body in Sheppard’s arms took the brunt of the damage and his human held up his own weapon, firing back and killing the last guard. The human freed his knife with a wet  _ schlick _ and let the last body drop, both of them stumbling at the same time. 

A quick examination of his wound told as much as he suspected and from Sheppard's face, the human could see how serious it was as well.  _ You alright? _ Sheppard asked, frowning at the still heavily bleeding wounds.

“It will heal.” Todd said to head off questions. There was still the chance Sheppard would finish him off as soon as he became a liability. Not to mention the shots undoubtedly would have been heard. They needed to leave this area. “This way.” He turned, checking briefly to make sure the coast was clear before leading Sheppard into the corridor, up the stairs, down a low ceiling hallway that he had to half stoop to not hit his head at the top, and towards outside until finally, he was throwing open a hatch. The warm night air hit his face, smelling strongly of woods and leafy underbrush. It was almost a shock after only having the damp musty prison air for so _ many _ years. He misjudged the step onto the forest ground, letting out a brief noise of pain as he stumbled before righting himself. 

Behind him, Sheppard was moving slowly. Exhausted, and also in pain. “How far is the stargate?” The man asked as he looked around, trying to get his bearings.

“It will be guarded.” He answered, mostly to give himself more time to figure out where it was.

“We’ve got guns,” Sheppard replied, voice tight and losing his patience. Both of their tempers shortened by their pain.

“They will be waiting for us.” He growled out.

“Don’t be so negative!” Sheppard chided, watching as he half sat, half fell as his damaged core gave out on him, at the edge of the bunker entrance with a cry of pain. He was struggling and Sheppard knew it. They both knew it. His breathing was ragged as he rested.  _ You think you’re gonna make it?  _ He side-eyed the human, knowing he wouldn’t like the answer he was going to give.

“If I feed.” 

“Well, don’t look at me!” Sheppard snapped. He huffed, unsurprised by the response, and cast his eyes about the young forest. Sheppard caught onto his unease quicker than he expected. “What is it?” 

Todd fought with himself. The driving survival instinct that screamed at him to not give Sheppard a reason to kill him. And it had a point. Was Sheppard not keeping him alive so he could get them out to the stargate? And to provide aid against the more numerous Genii? What would be the point of him when it finally came out that he recognized nothing, that he couldn’t lead them to the stargate? Especially given Sheppards distaste for his very species. But then, what of the retaliation when he was found out.

“We can’t stay here all night.” Sheppard pressed, projecting confusion and urgency. He sighed and pressed deeper into the human’s mind, pausing just against it until the instinctive resistance faded and Sheppard willingly allowed him in. He showed his memory of the walk from the stargate to the bunker, rough from his poor state at the time and hazy from the amount of time that had passed since. But it was clear enough that it was a grassy meadow in too bright sunshine that he was being half dragged through. Not the young forest that had grown up in its stead. He could feel the understanding dawning, “You don’t know the way to the Stargate.” 

“No.” He answered reluctantly, but truthfully nonetheless. There was anger there in the mind against his, the distrust and suspicion. But more than that, there was determination. An activeness he knew to mean plotting and planning that made him wary.

“Can you make a guess? Anything look familiar?” Sheppard tried, frowning to himself. Todd cast his gaze around them again.

“If I had to, that way.” He motioned to their left. The craggy barked tree looked vaguely familiar and was thick enough to have probably been there when he last felt the fresh air on his face. Sheppard nodded. 

“Then we go that way.” There was resolution in that mind, a confidence in the way he held himself. Sheppard had a plan, perhaps even a backup plan. It was admirable how well this human adapted and improvised, scheming and adjusting those plans almost unconsciously. He was more intelligent than he let on. “We both make it to the stargate, we both go our separate ways.” Sheppard enunciated the words clearly, making sure there was no mistaking the threat in them of what would happen should he think to double-cross the man. And… that was fair. 

“Until then, we’re gonna need each other. Deal?” He added. 

“Very well.” Todd made to stand up, one hand under him to support himself without using the damaged muscles of his core, the other out for balance. Sheppard tensed, his larger weapon half raised but he managed to disguise the instinctive reaction by half turning to scan their surroundings. 

And then he was standing. Both of them heading off into the woods and hopefully, towards the Stargate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Cackles_ Up next: some more natural behavior now that they're not confined together and under threat of a cattleprod.
> 
> Also, what do you guys think of a bonus chapter/epilogue of sorts from Dr. Beckett's perspective in his treatment/check-up of Sheppard?


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some tomfoolery happenin' in them there woods

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhhhh ya'll have no idea how stressful this week was ahahaha, 9-10hr days _all_ week with drama and new fuckery every day. Plus my supervisor has covid so I've got to go get tested >.<; fun stuffs. So forgive any mistakes, I'm falling asleep at my computer atm.

“I was blindfolded the whole way to the bunker, it wasn’t this far,” Sheppard grunted. He growled to himself, knowing that to be true, but at the same time, he was helpless to tell how far they’d strayed off course. It could be just a minute away. They could have gone in the complete opposite direction, there was just no way of knowing.

“If I could just move faster-!” Todd tripped on an exposed root, falling to his knees with a noise that was as much frustration as it was pain.

“We’ll rest here for a few minutes.” Sheppard came to a stop, still limping himself. But while he could tell Sheppard was tired, he knew this was also mostly to spare him. He was about to bite out a response when Genii soldiers spoke through the radio, reporting on the status of their search, and Kolya answered. 

“Kill the wraith on sight, but bring me Sheppard, alive.” The anger leached out of him as he listened. His fate was hardly a surprise. What did surprise him was his-.. not acceptance, but the _relief_ of it. The little thought in the back of his mind whispering ‘at least I’m not going to starve to death’ as he’d thought would happen so many times in his achingly timeless incarceration. If anything, it would be quick. With how his healing ability was already struggling with the deep gunshot wounds, he would not be able to heal more if they were caught. He brought his legs out from under him, resting his weight on the hand beneath him as he gave into Sheppard’s command to rest.

“Well, we learned two things. One,” Sheppard started. “He likes me better than you.” Todd laughed softly at this, wincing as the movement antagonized his wounds. “Two, we probably would have never made it to the stargate anyway.” At that, he sank back down, defeated. They were outnumbered, without the initial advantage of surprise and they were both in terrible shape. 

“Then it is over.” He sighed.

“No! My people don’t leave each other behind. That’s three things you’ve learned.” Sheppard spoke, just as firm in his belief now as when he’d first arrived.

“You still believe that?” He couldn’t help asking. 

“Kolya doesn’t know where we are. If he’s wasting manpower, that could be used searching for us guarding the gate, the odds of my people finding us are going up and up.”

“You are more like Wraith than you know,” Todd said softly, reminded of his initial belief that his people would come for him, fully aware of how quickly it’d left him. 

“I’m not sure I like the sound of that.” Sheppard narrowed his eyes at him, letting him know that he did _not_ like the sound of it at all. The corners of his lips quirked up at that, a soft exhalation of amusement leaving him.

“There is much about Wraith that you do not know, Sheppard.” He answered. For his part, Sheppard seemed to actually consider it, looking away from him. 

“We might as well rest here for the night,” Sheppard spoke after wetting his lips, glancing about the clearing. Todd clenched his teeth through the pained hiss as he slowly lowered himself back, torn muscles on his abdomen protesting against the use, but once he was laying down, they did not give him more trouble. He looked up, towards the night sky and the stars and surprisingly, triple moons. _Beautiful._ He couldn't help but think. Sheppard groaned as he lowered himself down to a seated position off to his side. 

The radio came to life again, but he didn’t even bother to look up at where it was in Sheppard’s hands. 

“Tell Koyla there’s no sign of them at the gate.” An unknown guard reported in. 

“Sounds like they’re concentrating their search around the gate.” The human commented. “They must think we knew where we were going,” Sheppard added dryly and he couldn’t help the soft laugh even as the motion brought pain and silenced him a moment later. 

“Oh, it was worth it. If only to see the sky again.” 

“I had slightly higher expectations,” Sheppard remarked and he snickered softly, unable to help the smile. 

Later, he would blame the warm night air for missing the signs that had been so obvious in the cool underground bunker. But it was the breeze turning direction and bringing Sheppard’s scent back to him that revealed it, drawing his gaze back to the human as he inhaled deeply.

The need was back. 

Sheppard shivered under his intense scrutiny, drawing into himself and refusing to look at him. Even now, he sought to suppress his need. 

_That won’t make it go away, John Sheppard._ Todd offered softly, as gently as he could. He didn’t mind Sheppard’s refusal to accept his need and he didn’t mean to press Sheppard into sex, the wraith just thought it was something Sheppard should be aware of and he tried his best to impart that with his words. _If it becomes too much, I would not refuse you should you change your mind._ Todd wouldn’t dream of letting a partner suffer like that, leaving them alone with an ever-escalating need driving them to desperation.  
  
Sheppard crossed his arms over his knees and leaning his head on them, lips pursed. Todd reached for the human’s mind, slowly, patiently until the instinctive walls slowly dropped. He soothed, as much as Sheppard would allow his influence, watching as the man relaxed visibly, tension bleeding from him. But he couldn’t hide his pain that way, and Sheppard sought it out, inhaling sharply when he felt the ghost sensations in his own body. The human brushed aside his instinctive attempts to hide the extent of his injuries with far more ease than a mere human should possess. But Sheppard was not an underling seeking a reason to take his position, nor was he an enemy to hide his potential weakness. _How bad is it?_ Sheppard asked, shadowed eyes on him.

“My wound is deep, if I do not feed, I _will_ die.” Todd sighed softly, not wishing to deceive when there was an all too real chance of that eventuality. It wouldn’t be quick, he was still healing, albeit slowly. The bleeding had already nearly stopped, wounds almost fully clotted and he had fed enough that the blood loss he’d already sustained wouldn’t be a problem. But with the internal damage, he would slowly succumb in days if he rested often. Less if they kept today’s pace. 

“Buck up!” Sheppard told him, though Todd could feel the concern and the mental calculation as the human fitted the new details into his plans almost unconsciously. “We got a deal, remember? We both go home _alive.”_

“And if we were to meet again in the future?” He pushed himself up to his elbows, turning to face Sheppard. “What then?”

Sheppard stared at him fearlessly for a moment before answering. “All bets are off.” 

He huffed a soft laugh, nodding to himself as he gave into Sheppard's determination. “Then let us hope we do not meet again.” as he let himself lay back down. Todd did not wish this human’s death now and he couldn’t see himself wanting it in the future either. But then, he _liked_ this human. 

“Try and get some sleep, I’ll take the first watch,” Sheppard told him. _Rest,_ the man urged, _heal up and we’ll take the gate in the morning._ Todd closed his eyes, trusting Sheppard to wake him if there were signs the Genii search was getting close. He could hear the soft groan as Sheppard rose, not going too far. His breathing slowed, allowing his mind and body rest. Exhaustion pulled him into unconsciousness quickly.

* * * * *

Todd woke when the night was still deep and endless around them. From what healing his wounds had done, he imagined it’d only been a couple of hours if that. Sheppard was straddling him, looking torn. He could scent the need and arousal coming off in waves, could see the sweat glistening on Sheppard’s skin in the starlight, could feel the hot clothed cock against his own half-hard arousal. He must have made a sound or something for Sheppard’s eyes narrowed, rising to meet his with an intensity that made him shiver. He’d expected this. 

“I just-.. Just give me a-... I don’t.” Sheppard struggled, gritting his teeth and falling silent when he couldn’t decide need or pride. Todd marveled at the resistance and restraint. To be this gone with need and still fight it, Sheppard would truly be the strongest human he’d ever or will ever have the pleasure of tasting. He reached for the human, intending to soothe. 

The gun came up, Sheppard rearing back. Todd froze. Projecting his nonaggression with his head tilted up to expose his throat. They stayed like that for a moment, two, and then Sheppard shook his head, exhaling forcefully. “Sorry, I’m sorry,” Sheppard murmured, setting the gun off to the side - though still within arm's reach - and ran his hand through his hair.

“Increased aggression is normal for you during the need.” He reassured, slowly continuing the motion he’d halted. Sheppard shivered, closing his eyes and leaning into the touch.

“You’re not just shitting me, are you?” Sheppard’s voice was strangely fragile and he opened his mind to the other, encouraging him into it.

 _I told you Alteran’s had a manner of more guaranteed conception. All the more reason for the one divesting all the time and energy into their offspring to seek the right sire rather than risk wasting it on one that would produce an undesired one. For all that the Alterans were, they were no less immune to their biology than we are._ He explained, letting Sheppard search his mind to see the truth in it. His hands on Sheppard’s hips encouraged the human to rock against him. He was reacting, just more slowly with the wounds sapping him and pain distracting him. 

_I’m_ ** _male._** Sheppard whined, throwing his head back as he moaned as loudly as he dared. Todd couldn’t help but laugh softly. 

_From what I heard, their male sex was prone to intersex traits. Perhaps you had a male maternal parent in your lineage._ He guessed. Sheppard groaned a low frustrated thing. _Did you want to try the thing from before to see if that helps alleviate your need? Or do you want me?_ He asked, being careful not to push either way. His hands were slowly making their way under the shirt by Sheppard’s hips, rubbing small soothing circles onto the skin. He could hear the way the humans' breath hitched, the way he froze as he fought with himself. He could see it in the twisted grimace and tense posture. Yellow slitted eyes closed, allowing himself to relax. Not quite dozing, his hands still rubbed circles onto the soft skin, but something close.

 _You’re not falling asleep again, are you?_ Sheppard asked, finally reaching down to touch him. It felt good. Even if it was just the faintest touch to his cheek as Sheppard leaned over him, close enough for him to scent the man. The need and arousal a little fainter, dulled slightly for now by the close proximity.

 _No._ He answered, faintly amused. _Merely resting while you decide._

Sheppard accepted this, leaning back and going silent. His own need abated before it’d started. He hadn’t been exposed to enough of the others' scent, needed more of it to respond in kind, for his need to override his taxed body.

Todd wasn’t aware of how much time passed between that point and when Sheppard decided, but he could feel it when he did. Sheppard grinding his ass down against his clothed cock, the fevered face pressed against his neck. He bared it automatically as he groaned, eliciting a small pleased noise from Sheppard.

 _Take it off._ Sheppard tugged at his clothing and backed away as his hands rose to the front, undoing the belt before going up to his coat collar. Sheppard’s hands pulled the coat apart as soon as it was undone enough, the layer underneath soon following. The human pressed an apology to the newly bared skin below his throat when it tugged at his wounds where the blood had crusted the clothes onto his wound. Fresh blood oozing from them far more rapidly than he’d like, but slowing as it clotted again. _You’re not-..._ Sheppard trailed off, moving off of him to try and divest him of his pants too.

 _I just need more of your scent, John Sheppard._ He assured as he lifted his hips to help the other undress him completely. He reached for him as he came back, always careful of his claws, and tugged at the black fabric keeping Sheppard's skin from his own. He shuddered, suddenly needing exactly that. _Take it off and let me feel you, please_. He watched through half-lidded eyes as Sheppard shrugged out of the jacket, discarding it next to the gun, and reached down to the hem of his shirt to pull it off too. All those muscles on display for him, showing off at every twist and flex, right there for him to touch. And touch he did. Slowly at first. Then with more confidence as Sheppard shivered and shuddered and trembled under his touch. Exploring the body above him as much as he’d be allowed.

His hands found Sheppard's nipples, pinching them lightly and rolling them under his fingers, encouraged by the gasps and the desperate way Sheppard ground his still clothed ass against his half-hard cock. When they were reddened and stiff, he abandoned them, hands moving on to Sheppards back. He pulled him closer. Inhaling the need, the arousal, and feeling it go straight to his cock, arcing through him like lightning and making him hiss out his pleasure. He grasped the offered ass through the clothing, squeezing and kneading and relishing the needy moan it tore from Sheppard's throat. _Off!_ He groaned his frustration, wanting nothing more than to watch Sheppard sink down on his cock, watch it disappear into that strong hot body, watch the expressions of pleasure contort his face. Need burning through his veins, temporarily dousing the pain from his wounds. _Sheppard!_ He keened soft but no less desperate for it. 

_Okay._ Sheppard laughed softly to himself and gave one last grind against him before reluctantly tearing himself away. Todd already regretted the loss. Even if Sheppard was back moments later and pressing against him as if he was as starved for it as Todd was. 

“Sheppard,” Todd gasped as Sheppard took him in hand. The man moaned at the girth of him, at the ridges as he stroked him. Fluid leaked from the tip, easily coating his cock and slicking Sheppard’s palm too. 

What he could feel of Sheppard was so hot, the memory of how it felt to be inside the man still fresh, burned into his mind. He was eager, almost arching up off the forest floor to get even a lil bit more of that sensation. The warning growl reminded him of his place and he relaxed into the ground, running his hands over every inch of skin he could reach and baring his throat in an instinctive apology, but he kept his eyes on the human. The growl stopped.

 _You’re staring._ Sheppard had opened his eyes a sliver, watching him back. He could feel that mind working, thinking as the human’s gaze slid lower, roaming over his exposed body. There was a moment's hesitation and then warm hands were following where his gaze had gone. Running over his pecs, fingers splayed, and then down, over his core careful of his wounds at his side. He inhaled a sharp shuddery thing, eyes falling shut in the shaking wake of Sheppard’s touch. It was so much and not enough after so long without another's touch, with just feeding and the rough guidance of guards to break up the isolation, the complete silence where the hivemind should be. _You okay?_ Sheppard asked, peering over at him and pulling his hands away.

 _Don’t!_ He couldn’t help it, desperate for the touch even if the barest had nearly overwhelmed him. _Don’t stop._ Todd shuddered, reaching out for them to put them back on him. Sheppard’s eyes softened and he resumed exploring, not saying anything more as Todd trembled under him, fingers probably gripping into Sheppard’s hips too tightly. Calloused fingertips ghosted over his uninjured side, over his still too visible ribs. Even over the faint outlines of electric burn scars inflicted when he hadn’t had enough energy to heal them. Not completely, not until much later. If he didn’t feed soon or die, the four bullet wounds would be much the same. He could feel the question in Sheppard’s mind, but he stayed resolutely silent. 

It went back to his belly, feeling his breathing quicken as Sheppard’s other hand went back to his cock. Easily sliding up and down until the thin remnants of Sheppard’s need-shortened patience snapped. The man spread his thighs wide, placing the cockhead at the abused rim. He lowered himself, sinking down onto Todd’s cock with a low pleased groan. He stared unblinkingly, not even daring to breathe as he took in the sight. Sheppard half bent over him, eyes closed as he shuddered, sweat gleaming off naked shoulders, almost ethereal in the moonslight. Insides clenching and relaxing around him as the man adjusted to his shape again, scorching and tight around him until he was fully seated.

The initial penetration only chased away the need for so long and Sheppard was wiggling on his cock, hips twitching as he fought the need to fuck himself. _Take what you need from me._ Todd encouraged the human, loosening his grip. He was unable to stop the surge of arousal at the faint bruises his fingers left, ones that would surely darken up later. It appealed to his instincts, whispered how Sheppard was _his._ His cock twitched hard inside Sheppard, drawing a breathy gasp from the man. The hot inner muscles squeezing him tight enough to take his own breath away. Sheppard braced himself with a hand on Todd’s chest as he rose, swearing as his ridges rubbed against his prostate on the way out. 

_There’s no way I’d ever get used to those._ Sheppard groaned as he sank back down in a smooth motion. He fucked himself in a steady rise and fall, both of them breathing in soft breathy gasps and moans.

 _If you move like this, they feel very nice._ Todd maneuvered Sheppard, feeling a thrill as he was allowed to do so. He moved the man’s hips towards him and down in a way that he knew would press his cock up against his prostate, drawing a sharp inhale. The human’s cock was leaking a puddle of clear pre-come onto his stomach, jerking as he guided Sheppard through the motion again.

 _You’ve-..?_ Sheppard didn’t finish. He could feel the curiosity behind the pleasure and further, the barest hints of shock.

 _Not in your exact position, my need has always presented as it has with you._ He answered, wrapping his hand around Sheppard’s cock and stroking the man, delighting in the wrecked moan it tore from the human’s throat. _But, I do know how good the ridges feel in a few positions._ Sheppard paused, staring down at him. 

_It was in my youth._ Todd shrugged, not quite understanding the surprise he could feel from the man. Sheppard snorted to himself, taking the opportunity to rest for the moment. 

_I should have expected that. You guys are what? 99% male?_

_More or less._ Todd tilted his head slightly this way and that. He was curious why that mattered, letting Sheppard feel it. 

_Humans do the same when the populations are mostly male._ Sheppard explained as he groaned, hips twitching forward to chase his slick grip. 

_And you?_ He couldn’t help but ask, curious despite himself. He let go of Sheppard to reach behind the man. Finally able to feel how stretched the rim was around his cock, how well he was taken so deeply. Sheppard flushed. Fascinated, Todd gently pushed Sheppard until the man was leaning back, catching himself on his hands behind him. And then turned his attention to Sheppard’s legs, pulling his knees up and spreading them wide so he could see where they were connected. The abused ring around him was red, shiny with his precome, a little puffy, and sensitive enough that even without him moving, Sheppard shuddered when he ran the pad of his finger over it. 

_Once or twice._ Sheppard answered, wetting his lips. His eyes followed the teasing trail of the tongue. Todd’s finger made its way up, rubbing the perineum, enjoying the gasp and keening moan as Sheppard’s limbs shook, weak legs struggling to keep him upright. He fondled the sacks, being very mindful of his claws against the thin fragile skin. _If I was more closely related enough to the Alterans to have-,_ Sheppard broke off, swallowing and he watched the bob of his Adam's apple. _Would you have-?_

It took a moment to suss out exactly what Sheppard was implying, but once he had, two immediate and opposing reactions rose within enough for Sheppard to feel. The first, arousal surging hard and hot, arcing up his spine like lightning, his instincts pleased at the opportunity to be allowed to reproduce again. _Again?!_ Sheppard managed before Todd’s cock twitched hard and a gush of slick precome slicked Sheppard’s insides even more. The man moaned at the feeling, hips twitching to take him more deeply. But at the same time, he’d never dare take without express permission, even if Kolya threatened his life. And he would never risk an offspring with a human. It would only be an outcast, shunned if not outright targeted by both sides. He preferred his offspring to succeed. At least in the cases where it wouldn’t actively be targeted. 

_I would not have done more than what I already have._ Todd answered softly, hands moving to Sheppard’s hips. He was still achingly aroused. The need in both of them rising, he didn’t have to wait long for Sheppard’s response to his wordless mental query. 

“Yes, fuck me already.” Sheppard groaned, tightening around his cock enough to draw a hissed breath from the Wraith. He didn’t hesitate further, fucking up into the human. He didn’t stop, ignoring the faint ache in his side as he filled Sheppard again and again, forcing gasping moans from the human. The insides around him soft and hot, gripping him tightly as if Sheppard’s body was trying to keep him deep. Wet, sloppy noises echoed about their tiny clearing with the grunts and groans of their coupling. He wanted, no _needed,_ to fill Sheppard, to seed him deep and the human swore, encouraging him on and desperately moving his hips to take him all the deeper, jerking and crying out whenever his ridges brushed over the sweet spot inside. “Please -mmmhh! Oh god-, fuck!” Sheppard’s thoughts were a mess, unintelligible through the pleasure whiting out both of their minds. The man seemed to only now remember that he could pleasure himself, gasping as he took his cock in hand and jerked himself roughly. 

Todd couldn’t breathe. Didn’t want to in case it would ruin the sight Sheppard made. Shiny with sweat, face in the rictus of pleasure intense enough to nearly be agony, thighs spread so wide, hole stretched obscenely around his cock. Oh how he wanted to, needed to come, but couldn’t yet. _Sheppard_. He cried out, pulling at him. The human wasn’t thinking, just reacting instinctively, following his pull and fitting himself against his body, taking control over the pace. 

Throwing his head back, his eyes closed at the face against his neck, shuddering hard at the relentless hot slide of Sheppard’s body up and down his cock, riding him, taking his pleasure from him as he undulated against him. It pulled at his instincts, half of him wanted to fuck up into Sheppard still, the other half overruled and he froze entirely at the touch of teeth on his neck. A pleased noise came from the human and Sheppard licked and sucked at the skin there. He couldn’t help the multi-tonal whine that left his throat. He was so close, he might beg. _Sheppard!_

Teeth sank into the spot just below his jaw, where the vestigial scent organ still was and Todd came like that. Eyes squeezed shut as he pulled Sheppard down flush with him, cock buried as deeply as he could get it as it pulsed and twitched hard, filling Sheppard with spurt after spurt of his come until it was dribbling out between them. He was barely aware of Sheppard repeating it with the other side of his jaw, his whole body jerking, and his orgasm kept going, wringing the very life out of him it felt like. 

His human shuddered hard, eyes squeezed shut as he groaned and ground against him. Throwing his head back as he came, weak nearly translucent spurts leaving the cock and dripping down onto his stomach as his insides spasmed around him. 

Sheppard slumped against him and Todd let himself go limp, both of them panting and trembling in the aftershocks of their orgasms. The energy that had been driving them both leaving now that the need had been fulfilled. His side started to ache again, but it was easily ignorable with the satisfaction in his veins. He was still touching the human, running both hands over the man’s back. Sheppard tensed, breathing increasing and it took a moment to place the reason. _I won’t feed from you._ He promised softly, reluctantly pulling his hands away and laying them on either side. Sheppard shuddered, looking at him like he didn’t understand, but slowly relaxed again.

 _You can keep touching._ Sheppard allowed, laying his head down onto his chest. He raised his hands tentatively, smoothing them over the human’s back again, calming them both. He could feel Sheppard fighting the pull of sleep.

  
_I will keep watch, you rest._ Todd soothed, feeling the human’s eyes flutter shut and his breathing slow even more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up next! The catch and release of an apex predator into its natural habitat and our favorite colonel gets a check-up hehe


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise update! Merry Christmas or Happy holidays readers!
> 
> My covid test came back negative, thank fuck haha.

At some point in the night, Sheppard woke again. The man curling closer to him with a mumbled murmuring of unintelligible words, leaning into the touch along his back. Todd could feel the consciousness returning slowly until the man remembered where he was and who he was with. Pulling away without a word and fumbling for his clothes, he could see Sheppard pull a rag from his pocket and clean himself up. Todd watched for a moment, enjoying the swaths of pale skin and the bite marks and bruises marring it, the muscularity and quiet competence. He pushed himself upright with his arms, using as little of his damaged core as he could. He dressed as Sheppard also pulled on his clothes. 

He sent a wordless query. Just his curiosity to ask what the man wanted to do now. Attempt to find the gate again? Linger and rest? Risk a trek back to the bunker to try a different way? Hazel eyes glanced up at the starry night, looking for something. The light that would signal dawn, Todd was able to glean from Sheppard’s mind before the man scowled and put up mental barriers. There was no light from anything, now, the moons had set and it was just the faint starlight. Even fainter for Sheppard with his human eyes. Sheppard shook his head.

_ We’ll hear and see them long before they find us if we rest until morning. I’ll take watch again.  _ Sheppard decided and he nodded, laying back down and biting back the groan of pain. But he was soon sleeping again.

* * * * *

It was the combination of other minds and the snapping of a twig that roused him. Morning light filtered through the leaves, bright and unrestrained when he snapped his eyes open. A Genii search party was close and getting closer. There were far more of them than either he or Sheppard could handle, even together. It left just one option. 

He rose, hand bracing his side as he sought out Sheppard. The human had fallen asleep at his post, sitting upright against a tree trunk. He knelt down next to him, his presence waking the man where the approaching Genii had not. Or perhaps Sheppard sensed his disquiet about what he was going to do, looking at him without a trace of fear. Just curiosity. Somewhere in their escape, Sheppard had come to trust him, Todd realized and found himself unable to just  _ take _ as he’d initially planned. “They’re coming.” He explained.  _ I need your strength.  _ Todd pleaded softly, knowing Sheppard would not understand as he fit his feeding hand over the oval scar it’d left the previous three feedings. Sheppard inhaled sharply, raising the gun and pressing the barrel against his stomach, but just like how he didn’t feed, the human didn’t shoot. 

_ No, we have a deal. _ Sheppard reminded.  _ We can take them with guns. _

_ We will be killed. There’s too many, Sheppard, and I can’t take another wound. _ Todd answered, baring his teeth in frustration before sighing. He raised his other hand, cupping Sheppard’s cheek and gently but insistently pulling so that the human was looking at him. He opened his mind further to the other, desperate for him to see the truth in his words, that he would not ask for this if there were another way. The Genii were getting closer, even Sheppard was aware of it now.  _ Sheppard, please! _

Sheppard’s grip tightened on the gun, eyes more green than brown in the morning light as they flitted from him to the direction of the approaching force.  _ At least I won’t be around to regret this. _ A thought Todd didn’t think he was supposed to hear as a muscle in the man's jaw twitched, gun lowering. Todd didn’t hesitate, feeding hand latching on. 

He fed, taking the potent lifeforce. It did more than heal his wounds, it flooded him with strength even as he tasted Sheppard’s anger again. Betrayal making it all the sharper, searing itself in his mind. For all that he was given permission, Sheppard still believed he was going against their deal, thinking he would take the whole of Sheppard’s life. 

Todd took and took until he’d nearly taken it all. Sheppard old and withered, black hair completely white.  _ Do not die, John Sheppard!  _ He ordered, pulling his hand away and knowing it was a risk to leave him on the cusp like that. Especially after so many feedings already straining the human’s body, but he had to trust Sheppard’s strength. The human was oddly fragile as he picked him up, much much lighter than he remembered, but he didn’t have time to dwell on that thought. Todd placed Sheppard gently onto his back in the center of the small clearing they’d bedded down in before scaling the tree Sheppard had slept against just before the Genii came into view. 

They did not look up.

Four of them walked past Sheppard as if the man were a corpse, not even bothering to check if he was still alive while two more took the opposite direction, covering their backs and looking for trails to show where he’d gone, making six in total. 

The four spread out, obviously looking for him and Todd waited until the two in the middle were below him, dropping down between them and knocking them several feet away, feeling bones fracture beneath his blows. The two he hadn’t gotten to yet shot at him but he had Sheppard’s life in his veins. He growled out his challenge and slapped the weapons from their hands, suplexing them and following them to the ground. 

His feeding hand latched on to one, taking the lifeforce quickly and growling his pleasure as his wounds healed and stolen lifeforce flooded him again. The other one pinned under his other hand, wide eyes going between his rapidly aging companion and to him, stinking of fear. But he had no mercy, not for the ones that had kept him captive,  _ used _ him like a rabid dog on a leash. No, he would devour them all. Take all the life he could get from them in retribution for the lifetimes they took from him. Smushed bullets fell soundlessly onto the soft leaf litter. The sound of more weapons firing reached him, but it was distant and he ignored it.

By the time he’d drained the two into desiccated corpses, the remaining duo had rushed back to their fellow’s aid. He dealt with them as swiftly as he had the others. Draining all of them one by one until the only living human left was Sheppard. Or so he hoped as he carefully approached the man. He looked desperately for signs of breathing, for the pulse of the man’s heart in the artery in his neck. Sheppard moved weakly, sensing his presence even if blind eyes couldn’t see him.

“Finish it.” Sheppard raised his head and spat weakly before it dropped back down, not even having the strength to hold it up. Todd couldn’t help the breath of relief he released, pushing into the man’s mind to show it. Confusion met him, anger and betrayal under it.

“I told you, John Sheppard. There are many things about Wraith that you do not know.” He reminded gently, raising his feeding hand and carefully setting it against the wound. Sheppard's anger spiked over the confusion, a steady stream of swears that cut off when he started. But instead of taking, he  _ gave. _ The life he’d stolen flowing back into Sheppard, giving back the youth and strength, and shock edged out every other emotion in the human. 

Todd pulled away once he’d given all he’d taken and then some. Sheppard sat upright, eyes wide and shocked. Hazel eyes looked over his shaking hands, hands that rose to his face to feel the lack of wrinkles before running through black hair. With the excess lifeforce still being reabsorbed into his system, even his feeding scar disappeared from the man. “What did you-, you undid it, didn’t you?”

“Yes.” He answered, head tilted as he watched Sheppard. The man’s attention quickly turned to the wraith's wounds, opening his coat to see the closed wounds and healing scars. Todd shivered at the fingers against the fresh sensitive skin, even as light as it was. 

“Why didn’t these heal like the rest?” The wandering fingers made their way to his throat, shuddering at the feel of them against the teeth marks Sheppard left last night. 

“From what I understood, for Alterans, they’re meant to last a lifetime.” He answered, opening eyes he hadn’t realized he’d closed. Sheppard frowned. The mind against his working quickly.

“And for you?” 

“They will last through a few feedings, but in the end, they will heal too,” Todd assured, soothing the hints of guilt he could feel. He would be fine. Closed, they were not much different than if he’d been marked by one of his own. The scars from this place, from his captivity, would also heal. Sheppard pressed deeper into his mind, looking for something and he allowed it, curious. It took a moment, but he realized it soon enough. The human was looking for his pain, for the burning in his veins that was his hunger. But he’d glutted himself with the six Genii, their desiccated corpses around them proof enough. In its place was a faint pleasurable feeling, a lightness without the constant pained exhaustion.  _ You too. _ Sheppard’s body was healed, excess energy wanting to be released. He gripped Sheppard’s hip, aware of the half-hard bulge in the human’s pants and the faint arousal he could scent tempered only by the awareness of the dead around them in Sheppard’s mind. 

_ We should get going. They’ll send more once this scouting party doesn’t come back.  _ Sheppard reasoned, but let him continue to touch. Todd leaned over him, reaching for Sheppard’s face, enjoying the fearless hazel eyes on him, the way he was allowed. 

He never got to it. Before he could, somebody pulled him forcefully back and he stumbled a few feet more even after he was released. He could hear the weapon charging. 

“Wait!” Sheppard yelled, already leaping to his feet. They were surrounded by Sheppard’s people. Men in monochrome patterned uniforms closing in to form a circle around them and then four others in different clothing. His eyes darted between them all, standing crouched and low, ready to react all while instinctively baring his teeth. But their attention was more on Sheppard than him. “Leave him, that’s an order.”

“I don’t understand. We all saw what he did to you.” A strange lilt to the human’s words made him glance over, the accent foreign to him. His face still crinkled in a snarl, but he stayed where he was, aware that one false move would result in his death even if Sheppard was trying to prevent that at the moment.

“He just undid it,” Sheppard answered. Hee could feel the sinking disappointment at having been witnessed in the human, however, the shame and embarrassment returning though Todd could also feel him fight to keep it off his face. Todd was too focused on the threat of all the weapons trained on him to linger on it. There was even less chance of an escape from this then there’d been the Genii cell. “Lower your weapons.” He looked up at Sheppard at the barked command, surprised. But then, they were still connected weren’t they? 

“How is this possible?” The only woman in the group asked, frowning at Sheppard and he could read the concern on her face as well as the relief her mind projected much more strongly. Another human mind far stronger than it should be.

“Don’t ask me.” Sheppard’s eyes were on him, demanding the same of him. He straightened a little, not coming fully out of the crouch.

“The gift of Life is reserved only for our most devout worshipers.” He answered before adding more softly. “And our brothers.” It was clear which one he felt Sheppard fell into.

“I guess there’s a lot about Wraith we don’t know.” Sheppard allowed, stating his own words back to him.

“Sheppard gave me my life back. I merely repaid the debt.” Todd added, holding Sheppard’s gaze and letting him feel the truth of it. 

“What debt?” The high male voice grated on his nerves. “Are you kidding me? I mean, he looks younger than he did before!” Sheppard was amused by his reaction, lips twitching but he kept a straight face. 

The one who’d pulled him away turned to his human, dark-skinned, dreadlock-styled hair and unfamiliar energy-based weaponry that was more advanced than the ones Sheppard’s people were armed with. “What about Kolya?”  
  
Sheppard patted down his pockets as he growled lowly at the mention, searching for the radio before running to retrieve it, speaking into it. But there was no answer to Sheppard’s threats until he tossed the radio with a disgusted noise.

“What about him?” 

Todd turned his attention back to them sharply. “We had a deal, right?” Sheppard asked aloud, questioning wordlessly in their mental bond.  _ We both go home alive. _ He forced laughter out, unable to help the slightly bitter edge to it. Anger and betrayal still present as much as he tried to tamp the feelings down.

“I did not truly expect you to honor it,” Todd answered, letting Sheppard feel the truth of it, all the doubts and places where he thought Sheppard would kill him. Especially now when there was nothing in his continued living for Sheppard now that the man’s people had come for him. And especially given how Sheppard felt about Wraith, he’d felt the human’s disgust. Even just now, when it was the Genii who’d allowed Todd to feed on him and watched as he’d taken Sheppard, there was still regret for their fate, that they died at his literal hand even though Sheppard would surely have put a bullet through their vitals given the equal chance. He’d just hoped he would have a chance to truly escape before this moment came.

Sheppard’s gaze hardened. His friend offered him the gun, seeming sure of what the decision would be. And when Sheppard shoved Todd from his mind, he felt sure of what it was as well. The wraith straightened defiantly. If this human would be his end, then so be it. 

In a smooth motion, Sheppard took the weapon, stepped forward, and fired. He was aware of the pain, a cry escaping him before it all went black.

* * * * *

“You didn’t kill him!” Ronon exclaimed, taking his gun back to see the stun setting for himself.

“No, I didn’t.” Sheppard turned to the marines around him. “Get him in a jumper, we’ll drop him off somewhere.” He watched long enough to see four marines sling their weapons over their shoulders and grab a limb each. Ronon reached for him, giving his shoulder a squeeze and he closed his eyes, knowing that he’d been seen. “How many?”

“How many what?” It was McKay who answered, not understanding the question but Teyla was the one who took pity on him.

“Elizabeth had the video feed sent to her office as soon as we knew what was happening.” She said kindly, “We are the only ones who saw.” Even that was too many, gritting his teeth as he didn’t meet their eyes. 

“Ah, that.” McKay said aptly and he couldn’t help rolling his eyes. 

“Yeah,  _ that!”  _ Sheppard snapped before taking a breath, scrubbing his hands down his face. “Thanks for coming.” He tried again. Somehow, he’d gotten used to the Wraith being in his head, the relative ease of the mental communication. Ronon squeezed his shoulder wordlessly again and followed after the marines lugging Todd for a few paces before turning back towards them. 

“Tell me we’re gonna kill him wherever you want to bring him.” The man asked hopefully. Sheppard snorted. 

“No, the only reason I’m still around is because of him. He could have killed me that last time and plenty of times since.” He admitted, frowning to himself.

“How do we know he just didn’t ah-,” McKay withered under the glare. “Get attached...” He finished weakly, walking along with them, just out of the hearing of the marines. 

“Wraith don’t get attached,” Ronon answered grimly. 

“He needed me to escape too,” Sheppard added. “He was down there a lot longer than I was.” He grimaced at that, remembering the shared memory. Long enough for a field to become a forest, the poor bastard. 

“If I might interrupt. I’d like to take a blood sample before we let him go.” Beckett asked neatly, pointing after the wraith that was being lowered onto the floor of the Puddlejumper.

“Knock yourself out doc.” He motioned away. Odds are Todd would heal and wouldn’t even notice the loss. He nodded at Ronon to go with him just in case Todd woke up early. But he didn’t, not even flinching as the needle slid into the vein and the weird black blue blood filled the tubes. Beckett barely needed to put pressure on, it healed almost as soon as the needle was removed. He shrugged when Beckett looked to him. “He just fed. Let's get this done quickly in case it gives him a resistance to the stunner.” 

Beckett didn’t let him drive. He was relegated to sitting in the back, arms crossed and sulking as the back hatch closed and they rose over the treeline to the stargate. There was a brief discussion on what Wraith controlled planet to use before it was decided.

It was night on the other planet and they landed cloaked as soon as they were through the gate, landing across a lake from the stargate. And not a moment too soon as Todd started to twitch and stir. 

“C’mon, let’s get him out.” Sheppard commandeered a weapon from one of the marines as they set him down. “Stay cloaked and in the jumper. Just give me a minute with him.”

* * * * *

  
Todd came to consciousness quickly, bolting upright with adrenaline and fear moving him. It took a moment to calm, to notice that he was not in fact dead or dying. Nor in pain, he brought a hand to his chest and there wasn’t even damage to his coat. “Ah Sheppard.” He glanced up at the man, watched him lower his weapon. “I thought you-.” He trailed off, unwilling to voice it. He sought Sheppard’s mind more from instinct and habit than conscious will, vaguely surprised when he wasn’t shoved out of it.   
_  
I thought I’d wake up dead today.  
_  
He sent with a snicker, getting to his feet.

“There’s a lot about humans you don’t know.” Sheppard parroted him right back, a crooked smirk on his face. He could feel the man’s amusement before the walls gently came back up, kicking him out no less effectively. 

“I see.” He answered, mixed feelings rising up. On one hand, Sheppard also kept up his end of the deal. On the other… “If we were to meet again?” He could see the tick of a muscle in Sheppard’s jaw as the man considered a moment.

“All bets are off.” Sheppard answered with the same determination that’d convinced him to join the man. He chuckled, nodding as he glanced about his new surroundings. It wasn’t even the same planet, sensory pits tasting a different atmosphere. His head snapped up at the familiar sound of a Dart, almost stumbling as he followed it, mentally reaching out to its pilot, to the others and relief flooded him to feel the hivemind. 

When he glanced back at Sheppard, he found the man completely gone. Todd blinked. There was no way Sheppard would have been able to cover the ground between here and the stargate without his noticing.  _ So then where? _

A wind coming from nowhere answered his question as well as what people Sheppard belonged to, grinning broadly as he followed the track of the Puddlejumper up and then towards the stargate. He knew only of one species that had such technology to cloak a vessel capable of flight. Sheppard and his people had taken over their precious city. Interesting. He had missed much it seemed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All that's left is the bonus chapter that I'm hoping to finish before the new year but it's been slammed at work so who knows.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonus chapter! That's it for this fic. Thanks for reading!

Beckett didn’t relax again until they were through the stargate and back in Atlantis. Sheppard had refused medical attention so far, brushing him away with a smattering of ‘I’m fine doc’ and ‘There’s nothing wrong with me’. Not to mention attempting to flee as soon as they’d landed in the Jumper bay, even stooping to using the marines as a crowd to get lost in. But Beckett managed to catch up with him again outside of Elizabeth’s office and only because said office was closed with the blinds keeping prying eyes away. 

“Mr. Radim, if the Genii hope to remain in the favor of Atlantis, all the torture bunkers, wraith infested or not, will have to be shut down immediately. I cannot, in good faith, support a people capable of what happened today.” Elizabeth could be heard from the other side, though Ladon was more hushed. Too hushed to hear clearly. 

“Colonel Sheppard.” Beckett insisted, “Elizabeth will hear your briefing when we’ve finished. I have a private examination room prepared.”

“I will tell Elizabeth you are well while Dr. Beckett does his check-up,” Teyla interjected helpfully, coming to his aid, and between the two of them, Sheppard folded with a frown. 

“Fine.” He bit out shortly, but neither he nor Teyla took it personally. 

“Thank you, love.” Beckett smiled at Teyla gratefully before escorting Sheppard to the private exam room. It was easy to tell Sheppard was full of anxious energy, all but pacing the room when he’d come back from giving the man privacy to change out of his clothes and into the hospital gown. “Do you want me to give you something to keep you calm?” 

“I’m fine.” Sheppard insisted, visibly forcing himself into stillness once he’d sat on the bed that served as the examination table.

“Colonel Sheppard, I saw what you went through, and quite frankly, I’m a lil worried,” Beckett said seriously, keeping his tone concerned and making sure that there wasn’t anything that could be construed as pity to make Sheppard shut down further. “It’s okay to not be fine about what happened.” He added softly as he telegraphed his movements to check the glands in Sheppard’s neck. Sheppard didn’t say anything, looking up and away from him as he went through the vitals. 

“Take these please.” Beckett handed a little paper cup to Sheppard with pills. “We don’t know of any afflictions that can affect Wraith, but just in case, these are prophylactics. I’d like to get a blood sample, just in case there’s any bit of the drug they gave you still in your system.” 

“They didn’t give me a drug.” Sheppard’s eyes closed, jaw muscle twitching. A momentary reaction before it cleared away and the man took the paper cup from him and swallowed them dry. Beckett took the moment to ready the instruments that took vitals and hook them up. He didn’t understand, recalling the sweat, the way Sheppard acted before the first encounter, but he was prepared to let the man take as long as he needed. Sheppard’s respiration increased, biting his lip. “It was a reaction from being fed on. Not a drug.” He answered before exhaling forcefully. Beckett blinked. At his confusion, Sheppard explained further. 

“Yeah, he-, the Wraith hadn’t encountered it before either. He guessed that since he had some Ancient DNA, he accidentally activated some of mine and brought out the reaction. Apparently, it’s common in wraith who fed off a lot of Ancients. They call it the ‘Need’.” Blood pressure was slightly elevated but explainable from the stress. Temp and oxygenation were normal. He took the instruments off and put them away for now.

Beckett nodded, taking in the information. “In that case, let’s get you under the scanner after I draw some blood to see if it’s had any permanent effect on you.” He turned to the supply draw, taking out what he needed to take a few vials of blood. “I want to give you a full physical as well and then we can keep you under observation in quarantine for a little while just to make sure it’s out of your system.” His words didn’t exactly reassure Sheppard, the man’s lips pursed in a thin line expressing his displeasure at the idea. 

The vials filled quickly and he removed the needle, putting pressure on the small wound with a neat gauze square before Sheppard’s fingers replaced his, letting him clean up and label. He was back a moment later to tape it off. The colonel laid down, the ancient machine going slowly from head to foot and foot to head again and again. His attention was focused on the screen. There were minor deviations from Sheppard’s baseline. Not enough to worry, but enough he was already planning several additional tests.

“What’s with the face, Doc?” He’d forgotten Sheppard was far more intuitive than he let on. Honesty was always the best policy.

“I want to scan you again and take more samples later just to be safe, but it’s probably nothing to be worried about. It’s likely part of the reaction you described.” He reassured. “Now, I’ll be back in a few hours after I get some results. Feel free to rest up and call me if anything changes or if you need something, alright?” 

* * * * *

Beckett frowned as he glanced over the results. Some of it was expected. There was one that wasn’t. He glanced at his watch. It’d been a few hours since the second check-in and sample gathering and Sheppard hadn’t called for him. It would be a good time to take more samples and scans. The walkways between the medbay desk and Sheppard’s private room were devoid of people. It was late in the day, many of Atlantis’ residents were probably socializing or getting ready for bed. His own night shift replacement would be arriving soon. 

There was an audible ring as he asked for permission to enter and an answering one as it was granted. The doors slid open to show Sheppard on his way from the bed, only halfway to the door. The man frowned, opening and closing his mouth as he stopped. “I thought that only worked if you waved your hand in front of your side in order for it to open like that?” Beckett asked, glancing between the door controls and Sheppard. 

“I thought so too.” Colonel Sheppard answered after a moment. “You should have McKay come and take a look. Maybe the controls are wonky.” 

“Maybe.” Beckett agreed, making a note to himself on his tablet to do just that in the morning. “How are you feeling?” Sheppard shrugged as he headed to the bed, following just behind the colonel. 

“Fine. Getting caught up on some paperwork.” Sheppard shared, sitting on the edge of it and letting him check vitals again. He drew a few more vials, took a few more scans. “Alright doc, are you gonna tell me what’s wrong yet or what?” It was a fair question and Beckett pulled the screen showing the scan results over so Sheppard could see it as he sat up. 

“There’s an unusual level of brain activity here.” He pointed to the yellow-orange spots that bridged the frontal and temporal lobes. “And here.” His finger moved to the spot just between the temporal and parietal lobes as well. “And although the activity has faded since the initial scans, it doesn’t seem to be going away. Not yet at least.” 

“Your other tests are more promising. There’s no sign of viral or bacterial infections. There is a fair amount of Wraith enzyme in your system, but not enough to trigger an addict response and your body seems to be processing it efficiently. It also looks like any physical injuries are healed and a fair amount of your old injuries look better as well.” 

“Alright, so I’m good to go? Minus the weird brain thing?” 

“Physically, yes.” Beckett hedged, “But I’d still like to keep you overnight and make sure your bloodwork comes back normal then. And hopefully, your scans too.” Sheppard groaned, flopping back onto the table. He smiled, glad the colonel was feeling enough himself for the impatient display.

“And the whole ancient DNA activation thing?” Sheppard asked. “We would have heard if they had such a thing, wouldn’t we? Todd-.”

“Todd?” He couldn’t help interrupting, not recognizing the name.

“Ahh, the Wraith.” The Colonel explained. Beckett nodded. “He had mentioned they had intersex traits and the Need thing. How have we not heard of it before?”

“The activation is not something I can reliably find. Not without knowing more about where it was activated and it would take some major exome sequencing even with knowing the general area. For now, it doesn’t seem to be affecting you in a major way and if it was only activated by the feeding, it’s possible that it will deactivate and not happen again.” Beckett theorized. He would absolutely research it more in the meantime, but it would be a long term project with the sheer amount of DNA that he’d have to muddle through. It’d taken him a long time just to isolate and replicate the singular gene that helped control the Ancients’s technology to give the gene therapy to their expedition. This sounded much more complex.

“As for the Ancients, we really don’t have much if anything of their history or culture outside of the holograph room, and that is mostly their war and time in the Pegasus Galaxy. Not their culture or biology. Plus, if it was inherent to their whole society, they might not have felt like it was necessary to record it. There are many things historians don’t know about our own history just because it was believed so obvious and everybody knew that there was no need to. 

“We can try searching through their database now that we know what to look for. I can put Radik on it while McKay looks at the door.”

Sheppard looked displeased, frowning to himself even as he nodded at what Beckett pointed out. He hesitated to speak further. For as much as Sheppard was brilliant, the man also played very close to the vest. “I want to recommend that you have at least one session with Dr. Heightmeyer before you go back on active duty.”

Sheppard bolted upright at the very idea, already voicing a protest before he’d even finished speaking and Beckett sighed and pulled up a chair. “You’ve been through something very traumatic.” He raised a hand at the next outburst of protest, cutting it off. “Colonel, you wouldn’t be so against the help if it wasn’t true.” Sheppard frowned but quieted. At least considering what he was saying.

“If you’d prefer to talk to me, you always have that option.” Beckett reminded gently, patiently. Sheppard pursed his lips, scrubbing a hand down his face. He simply waited. Allowed the colonel to reach his own conclusions and gather his thoughts. 

“I’d prefer not to talk to anyone about it at all.” Sheppard persisted stubbornly, but it seemed to be a complaint rather than a true avoidance. 

“Are you embarrassed by what happened?” He asked softly, willing to let Sheppard pretend he didn’t hear if the man didn’t want to answer. Sheppard froze, lips pursing into a thin line before he sighed and lay back again. The man covered his face with his forearm over his eyes. 

“How could I not be? You saw it.” The man spat out the words, understandably hating to have been seen. “Bad enough it even happened, let alone-...” He trailed off, biting his lip. Sheppard’s fist was clenched tight enough that Beckett wouldn’t be surprised if his nails cut little half-moons into his palms. 

“Colonel-...” He started, unable to help the instinctive sympathetic reaction. People being in pain was something he’d never been able to abide. Not if he could help. “Even without the ‘Need’ as you called it, reacting to what happened to you during coitus isn’t a physiological response you could have controlled. It’s natural to feel good when you’re stimulated like that regardless of whether or not you actually want it. It doesn’t negate that you did not consent to what happened and frankly, with the ‘Need’, you were under the influence. I don’t believe you were capable of consenting no matter what happened. And believe me when I tell you none of us will ever think any less of you for what you’ve been through.” Beckett couldn’t help the concern in his voice or on his expression. Sheppard was quiet. Hopefully, he’d managed to reassure some of the doubts though he knew an event like this would have lasting effects. When Sheppard didn’t speak or move, he stood and patted the bed beside Sheppard, aware he might not want to be touched.

“Please get some rest, Colonel Sheppard. I’ll leave you with a sleep aid in case you want it.” He put the pills on the keyboard holder beside the bed. A bottle of water was already there. “Let me know if you need or want anything.”

He was almost out the door when Sheppard spoke up. “Thanks, Beckett.” 

“Anytime Colonel.” He smiled over his shoulder before leaving the man to rest after the long day. 

**Author's Note:**

> Neither of them have much say in the matter.
> 
> I run off comments! Talk to me! Tell me what you think, what you liked, what stuck out to you, etc. Chances are, it'll get my brain goin' and you might get more chapters/writing! ~~The last fic, I added a whole 'nother 5k words haha~~
> 
> Note: This is not beta read, so I would prefer not to have criticism beyond what could be fixed in a few minutes.


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